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Real wine connoisseurs turn up their noses: Rosé! This is not wine after all. In fact, in the "real" wine world, rosé is not held in too high a regard Reputation.

The sparkling rosé in our beach coffee
It wasn't too long ago that I mocked the rosé of a respected winemaker on Lake Zurich: an unnecessary concession to bad taste in wine!

In Neuchâtel, where they have the real "Oeil de Perdrix" ("Eye of the Grouse"), I was almost thrown out of the cellar for my snide remarks. Finally, I clapped my hands when a vintner in Chur banned the "Schiller" from his program: "no longer for sale!" "Schiller" is, after all, a special rosé that is only available in the Chur region.

I could not understand at all that a winegrower, who otherwise has an excellent taste and presses excellent wines year after year, deeply regrets his renunciation of the "Schiller". I didn't understand his sad face and the world anymore.

"Menthe à l'eau"% just a syrup% it too belongs to the South
Now, however, I too have joined the ranks of rosé fans. Admittedly, I don't yet dare to serve a rosé to my wine-loving guests, not even in summer. It has to be at least a real Swiss, a Languedoc or even a Bordeaux, maybe a white, but certainly not a rosé. I would have too much to lose in terms of wine credibility.

But there is the rosé wine - in quite different coinage - so to speak in all wine countries, at least in Europe. In Germany the "Weißherbst", in Austria the "Gleichgepressten", in Italy the "Bardolino Chiaretto", in Portugal the "Mateus", in France the "Rosé"... In the south of France, where you don't have to look for the heat in summer, rosé can also be a "quality wine".

But "my" rosé is not a quality wine, it is offered "en vrac", i.e. open, in large containers, has no name, not even the vintner is known.

Emerged from the beach chairs% ready to enjoy
Noon after noon, it comes - as soon as we get out of our deckchairs emerge - unsolicited onto the table in the little beach restaurant. "An outrageously beautiful color," is the daily comment, and we toast, to a glorious, aromatic, thirst-quenching sip. I even allow myself - what an outrage! - to put an ice cube in the wine every now and then, so that it really is cool and sparkles even more beautifully in the sunlight.

Not for a moment do I think to ask about nose, palate and finish. All points, whether 10s, 20s or 100s system, are relegated to another world. Every now and then, though, I can't help myself: "une belle composition de pulpe de framboise et de fraise, un palais au fruit juteux doté d'une matière pleine et fraîche" (loosely translated: "beautiful fruit of raspberries and strawberries, fruity on the palate, juicy, full and fresh".

Such hints of high wine culture quickly evaporate, but if they are nevertheless too persistent, then I drive them away with the second southern summer drink, the outrageously bright green "Menthe à l'eau". The palate is at one with the eye, and summer is perfect!

Quality-conscious winemakers also make a rosé% for example Ollier Taillefer from Faugère
I admit it, I'm in love with this rosé, its beauty has done it to me. Suddenly I don't find it so trivial either. Unsettled, I leaf through the wine magazine of the south: "Cave des Lirac, Rosé, cuvée "vieilles vignes", médaille d'Or, 85 points". Or "Château Mas Neuf, Costières de Nîmes, Compostelle, 17 points". Most of the vintners whose red wine I appreciate also press a rosé. So far, I have left it on the left, in the wine cellar. It hardly ever appears in the ratings of the "wine experts", and if it is mentioned, it hardly reaches 15 points. No vintner has ever recommended the rosé to me, but rather left it bashfully in the corner.

Since this summer, everything has changed for me: I'm happy to have discovered a wine that I don't have to describe, grade, score, that I can just drink, carefree. It doesn't have to be stored, it doesn't have to be registered and it has to be taken out of the cellar at the right moment. Languedoc rosé, whether with a dazzling name or nameless, is "l' art de vivre de l'été" - the art of living, of enjoying summer.

Sincerely

Yours/Yours

Peter (Züllig)

NB. It is to be feared that the next visitor, even if he is a wine lover and connoisseur, will be served a "Rosé du Languedoc".

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