All the medallists from The Global Rosé Masters 2024

Fiercely fashionable and Insta-friendly, rosé continues to turn heads – and the wines are getting increasingly serious, says Patricia Stefanowicz MW.

Back in the 1980s, no self-respecting wine drinker would order a glass of rosé.

Forty years on, the world is seen through ‘rosé-coloured glasses’. Rosé wines are increasingly relevant in both the on-trade and the off-trade, where pink-hued bottles seemingly have more and more shelf space. Drinking rosé at home is growing.

Can anyone think of a better style than a dry rosé to serve with the English summer favourite: poached salmon and a watercress-dill-cream sauce?

Rosé is increasingly recognised as a serious wine. France, or Provence, is certainly the queen, and her ladies-in-waiting are the rest of the French Mediterranée. In our judging day of rosés, many of our Gold and Master medalwinners hailed from those regions.

Normally based on Grenache, with Cinsault and Syrah making up the majority of the blends, the wines have just a little tannic grip adding interest across the palate.

The best wines are pristine, pink-peach in colour and show their best in flint (clear) glass. Packaging is crucial, because, after all, the first duty of a rosé wine is to be ‘pink’, and being able to see the colour on the shelf (or on the table) is paramount. There is a tendency to go for pale – or paler. There were, on this judging day, a few delicious wines which did not have even onion-skin in the hue. It is tricky to sell these styles as rosés.

Producing high-quality rosé wines is not easy. Attention to detail, extracting just the right amount of colour while balancing fruit flavours, acidity and maybe a touch of tannin, is a serious winemaking challenge. And those who choose to put the wines in a bit of wood for added complexity are risking rather a lot. No wonder, then, that so many rosés are not inexpensive.

The judges tasted good-quality, balanced, unoaked wines under £15, and more still in the £20–£30 and £30–£50 price brackets, where cellar care showed through. These lovely wines have plenty of red fruit and crisp acidity without overt bitterness.

When producers choose to use oak (usually secondor third-fill barriques), the judges agree that the wines seem to be first-class. At £15–£30, these wines are gastronomic delights. The stratospherically-priced wines at £50-plus are in fact relative bargains, with enough structure to suit Michelin-starred dishes. Overall, the judges found a wide range of high-quality wines from a number of countries. In addition to France, we had Gold and Master medal winners from Greece, Australia, England, Chile, Italy and Spain.

Rosé wines are alive, and bristling with energy. When they work, rosé wines work very well. The wines are simply waiting in the wings for the summer season to show their true peach-and-pink colours and flavours. Long live rosé!

Please scroll down for a full list of the medallists, arranged by category, starting with sparkling and finishing with high-end, oak-influenced, dry rosé, as well as some information about the competition. 

Dry Sparkling Rosé (12g/l or lower)

Sweet Sparkling Rosé (12g/l-plus)

Still Unoaked Rosé (4g/l or lower)

Still Unoaked Rosé (4g/l or lower; continued)

Still Unoaked Rosé (4g/l or lower; continued)

Still Unoaked Medium-dry Rosé (4g/l-12g/l)

Still Unoaked Sweet Rosé (12g/l+)

Still Oaked Dry Rosé (4g/l or lower)

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