Two rosés for summer

The demand for rosé has become so vigorous that some producers just send single bottles of rosé for review.

Readers of this blog will know I almost never review a single bottle. My blog has never been set up that way. Nor does a single bottle tell you much about any producer.

But let’s make an exception, given that rosé has become everyone’s summer favourite.

There is also a bit of bad news. The Painted Rock rosé sold out so quickly you might be able to find it only at a restaurant.

Gray Monk’s rosé, a blend of Gamay and Rotberger, seems to be made in a much larger volume, extrapolating from the sec sheet on the winery’s web site. That spec sheet is still for the 2016 wine.

That is a little surprising. Andrew Peller Ltd. has owned Gray Monk for at least a couple of years. Surely, if Peller has the resources to have bottles of rosé shipped to wine writers, they must also have the resources to keep the web site up to date.

It would appear that Peller is discontinuing the single variety Rotberger rosé. The varietal was much loved by the Heiss family, Gray Monk’s founders, who in the 1970s planted the one and only Rotberger block in the Okanagan. Peller has figured out that it is easier to sell a pink wine called rosé than one called Rotberger.

Here are notes on the wines.

Gray Monk Rosé 2018 ($16.49). Fashionably pale, the wine has aromas and flavours of watermelon, pink grapefruit and strawberries. On the palate, the wine is juicy and refreshing. 90.

Painted Rock Rosé 2018 ($24.99). The wine displays a lovely rose petal hue in the glass. Aromas of strawberry and rhubarb are echoed in the intense flavours. The finish is dry and lingering. 92.