Top 10 delicious, dry, delicate rosés over £20

If you are looking to spend Champagne prices on dry, delicate, pale pink wine but want to secure the best bottles out there, then read on for our top 10 rosés over £20.

Taking in the very top end expressions from a range of famous Provençal rosé producers, along with a remarkable rosé from Spain’s Priorat wine region, as well as a wonderful sample from Britain, and a new launch from American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, the following list represents the height of luxury summertime refreshment.

It also follows our previous selections, which have taken in the best options for under £20, and a further round-up of brilliant, bargain rosés, along with a list of big-hitting rosés for fine wine lovers – which differ from the choices below in that this former set of pricy pinks were all barrel-fermented.

So, while the wines below are expensive, they are all made in loosely the same way – and that means very careful handling of the berries to maximise aromatic purity, brief contact with the red grape skins to obtain a desirable pale salmon pink appearance, and fermentations in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks to ensure a fresh, light style of drink.

Now, this doesn’t mean the wines all taste the same, but it does ensure they are all fairly delicate fruity rosés, neither sweet and jammy, nor creamy and nutty.

Finally, I should stress that the following rosé recommendations have all been taken from this year’s Global Rosé Masters, which saw almost 200 wines assessed without any knowledge as to source region or producer – and please click here to see the results from the competition in full.

So, if you think you deserve a place on this list, please visit The Global Masters website for more information, and, to enter future competitions, please call: +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com

Meanwhile, please read on for the 10-strong selection…

10. Château Minuty Rose et Or

• Producer: Minuty
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• ABV: 13%
• Grape Variety: 90% Grenache, 10% Tibouren
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £28
• Residual sugar level: 0.8 g/l
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Gold

This delicious top-end expression from major Provençal producer, Minuty, is packed with crisp redcurrant, apple, grapefruit, and orange zest characters, along with soft-textured notes of white-fleshed peach and cherry, to create a delicious fruity-fresh style of bone dry rosé.

9. Rosé Secret de Léoube

• Producer: Château Léoube
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• ABV: 13.5%
• Grape Variety: 40% Grenache, 40% Cinsault, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £20-£30
• Residual sugar level: <1 g/l
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Gold

The secret to this rosé from respected organic Provençal estate Château Léoube comes in the form of its unusual blend of grapes. While it contains the usual southern French rosé varieties of Grenache and Cinsault, it has a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon too – a grape of course famous for its role in the fine reds of Bordeaux.

The result is a rosé with all the usual Provençal charming characters of citrus zest, grapefruit and peach, along with a soft, slippery sensation on the palate, but this example also has a surprising intensity, with a note of black berries, making it quite a fruity style of pale, dry pink wine.

8. La Chapelle de Sainte Roseline Cru Classé

• Producer: Château Sainte Roseline Cru Classé
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• Grape Variety: 85% Mourvèdre, 10% Rolle, 5% Grenache
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £30-£50
• Residual sugar level: <1 g/l
• Closure type: Agglomerated cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Silver

This top expression from Château Sainte Roseline uses the best parcels of the producer’s Provençal vineyards to produce quite a linear, fresh-tasting style of rosé with grapefruit and blackcurrant leaf characters, along with a touch of riper peach notes at its core too. But, if you like your rosé nice and taught, or the weather’s very hot, then this is the rosé for you.

7. Cherry Garden Rosé

• Producer: Gusbourne Estate
• Country: UK
• Region: Kent
• ABV: 12.5%
• Grape Variety: 100% Pinot Noir
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £25
• Residual sugar level: 0.5 g/l
• Closure type: Agglomerated cork
• Colour: Bright, deep salmon pink
• Medal: Silver

While the UK has proved itself a high-quality producer of traditional method sparkling wines, it is just emerging as a great place for crisp, dry rosés too, as highlighted by this version from Kent’s Gusbourne Estate. Called Cherry Garden Rosé, it’s crammed with juicy, freshly crushed strawberries, while displaying a classically English bright acid finish, ensuring this pink wine has all the refreshment of a grapefruit that’s just been squeezed to order.

6. Lampe de Méduse Cru Classé

• Producer: Château Sainte-Roseline Cru Classé
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• ABV: 13.5%
• Grape Variety: 40% Grenache, 35% Cinsault, 15% Mourvèdre, 10% Tibouren
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £20-£30
• Residual sugar level: <1 g/l
• Closure type: Agglomerated cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Silver

This distinctive-looking bottle with a brand name inspired by the binge-drinking Knights of Medusa is a lovely Provençal rosé for those looking to step beyond the big producers of this class-leading pink wine area. Gently oily-textured, with lingering flavours of peach and pear, along with a touch of pomegranate and citrus zest, it’s a fine, delicate, soft rosé of distinction.

5. Sun Goddess Pinot Grigio Ramato

• Producer: Fantinel
• Country: Italy
• Region: Friuli-Venezia Giulia
• Grape Variety: 100% Pinot Grigio
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £20-£30
• Residual sugar level: 7 g/l
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Gold

Marking a change from the usual Grenache based rosés of Provence, this wine is made into a very pale style of rosé using Pinot Grigio grapes from northern Italy, having allowed the colour from the grape’s pink skins to leach into the wine. Unlike southern French rosés, this product has a tiny touch of sweetness, and a contrasting, appealing note of bitter almond, along with a bit of drying grip from the grape’s phenolic components, but like the pink wines of Provence, it also has lots of lovely fleshy stone fruit. If that all sounds a bit technical, then please be assured that this is a delicious, refreshing rosé with plenty of peach and pear fruit and a dry, bright finish. Oh, and by the way, it’s also the new label from American R&B singer Mary J. Blige.

4. Léoube La Londe

• Producer: Château Léoube
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• ABV: 13.5%
• Grape Variety: 50% Grenache, 50% Cinsault
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £30-£50
• Residual sugar level: <1 g/l
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Gold

Another first-rate rosé from Château Léoube, this time containing the more traditional Provençal blend of Grenache and Cinsault – our earlier recommendation also featured a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon. The Léoube La Londe is a brilliant example of southern French rosé, with a lovely balance between ripe, juicy peach and soft citrus-like freshness, making for a pristine glass of pale pink refreshment.

3. Scala Dei Pla dels Angels

• Producer: Scala Dei
• Country: Spain
• Region: Priorat, Catalonia
• ABV: 14.5%
• Grape Variety: 100% Grenache
• Vintage: 2019
• Price: £22.50
• Residual sugar level: 1.1 g/l
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Bright, quite deep salmon pink
• Medal: Gold

For those drinkers who love Grenache, Spain’s Priorat wine region should be on their radar, and if it is, then the region’s oldest producer, Scala Dei, should also be known to them. But, while this part of Iberia is famed for its powerful and long-lived reds based on Grenache, crafted with great expertise by Scala Dei, it is not a place that’s famous for pink wines – in Spain, the rosé region of note is Navarra. But here is an outstanding rosé based entirely on Grenache using the great old vines of Scala Dei’s vineyards in Priorat. It’s crammed with freshly-crushed red berries, peach, citrus zest and orange blossom, and, because it’s a powerful, quite heady rosé with plenty of ripe fruit and brightness, it does provide a rather dangerous all-too-easy-to-drink form of refreshment.

2. Clos Mireille Rosé

• Producer: Domaines Ott
• Country: France
• Region: Côtes de Provence
• Grape variety: Grenache, Cinsault, Rolle and Syrah
• Vintage: 2018
• Residual sugar level: <1
• Closure type: Natural cork
• Colour: Pale salmon pink
• Medal: Master
• Price: £30-£50

A pioneer in top-end, beautifully packaged, expertly-crafted Provençal pale pink wine, Domaines Ott is still at the top of the game with this classic and delicious expression. Loaded with peach and pink grapefruit flavours, and a wonderful texture that starts with fresh fruit, moves into a riper, oilier feeling, and finishes with a soft but dry chalky sensation, this is a very fine glass of wine.

1. Château Minuty 281

• Producer: Minuty
• Country: France
• Region: Provence
• ABV: 13.5%
• Grape Variety: 90% Grenache, 10% Syrah
• Vintage:2019
• Price: £50+
• Residual sugar level: 0.8 g/l
• Closure type:
• Colour: Very pale salmon pink
• Medal: Master

Taking its name from the Pantone reference number for the royal blue colour that adorns the the bottle, 281 is Minuty’s flagship rosé, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s a delicious fine pale pink wine with indulgent ripe peach and raspberry flavours and a gently oily texture that ends with cleaning citrus character, making it ripe, juicy, zesty and ultimately, hard not to drink at a pace.

And finally…Étoile

Although this wine was not tasted blind as part of 2020’s Global Rosé Masters, the latest launch from Domaines Ott – which is also its most expensive – is a remarkable result.

Called Étoile, it’s a layered wine, with peach, wild strawberry and white cherry, along with a touch of orange zest and pink grapefruit, as well as a palate-cleansing chalky character and gently salty sensation.

And, like great Provençal rosés, it manages to combine oily-textured ripe fruit with a dry mouthwatering finish, meaning that the wine feels slightly weighty on the tongue, but fresh as it disappears down the throat.

Although I can’t say how it would have performed against the competition in a blind tasting, it is doubtful it would have achieved anything less than a Gold medal.

However, a word of warning, it is by far the most expensive wine in this list, costing more than £100.

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HERE’S WHAT A NEW £100+ FRENCH ROSÉ TASTES LIKE