Today is national rosé day, and it got me thinking about how many great rosé wines there are, and how often they can be neglected or only drank in the few weeks of summer that we get here in the UK.

The truth is that rose wine, is wine that can appeal to both white and red wine lovers, with me definitely leaning towards the reds.

Like so many things, its what’s on the inside that counts (I’m off to see Aladdin later today), and when it comes to grapes, the flesh is always white, did you know for example, that Champagne uses a mixture of red and white grapes.

When someone isn’t keen on a red wine, it’s usually because of the elements bought about by the skin, it’s not just the colour it beings, but tannins.These can bring more complexity, but also some bitterness. So if you’re not a huge fan of red wine, you probably aren’t keen on dark chocolate or tonic either.

So what about rosé wines? Well these are produced using the ‘white’ flesh of red grapes, with only slight contact with the skins during the production, giving the faint pink colour and maybe just a hint of the flavours of the skins – think of if as milk chocolate rather than dark!

Just like lighter red wines, such as Pinot Noir, these are great chilled, hence the reason that its often seen as a summer drink, but if we dont restrict white wine to the summer months, why do the same for Rose?

The truth is there are so many great roses out there to try, The Hidden Sea, which I wrote about previously here for example, is an absolute bargain of a wine, which appeals to white wine drinkers and is always a crowd pleaser.

If like me you tilt towards red wines, then one of my favorite red producers, Baron De Ley, also produce a stunning rose, which like The Hidden Sea is available at supermarkets such as Asda.

So the next time you are down the wine aisles looking at red or white wine, why not take a look at the pinks too, you wont be disappointed.