Add a taste of the south of France to your summer

Some of my fondest memories of living in France revolve around a glass or two (or sometimes a bottle or two) of rosé wine. 

From pinks of indeterminate origin served in pichets in rustic restaurants in impossibly picturesque Luberon villages, to chilled bottles in sophisticated Monte Carlo after helicoptering in from Nice (that actually happened a couple of times).   

I recalls meals in fabulous little Avignon bistros (aren't they all), and our local Lebanese eatery in Paris, where we always drank rosé, as did the BCBG locals. 

This was well before rosé became fashionable - back when ordering a glass of pink wine in Australia might well have earned a bloke a punch on the nose and a "poofter" taunt. 

In 2021, of course, rosé is all the range, from rooftop bars on Hollywood and Vine to downtown Cygnet, where chaps in blue singlets happily quaff a glass or two of chilled pink before heading off to chop down some trees. 

Today's rosé wines, often pale and bone dry, are a million miles away from the sickly sweet, slightly spritzy Portuguese Mateus Rosé we used to quaff a generation ago. 

The Chateau de Aix en Provence. a Provencal rosé, is one of the labels cashing in on the latest trends. 

Aix produces wines in sizes ranging from 750mls to 15 litres (a great party talking point) - and the new-release 2019 vintage is a step up in class from 2018. 

Think fruity freshness with a dry savoury finish designed to be enjoyed well chilled. the 2019 vintage is a blend of grenache, shiraz, cinsault and carignan, all classic grape varieties from the south of France. 

The fruit was grown in the vineyards of a 135-year-old domain in the heart of the Coteaux d’Áix-en-Provence appellation. 

Aix Rosé is available in Australia via Independent Fine Wine retailers including Camperdown Cellars, Chambers Cellars, Corkscrew Cellars and Porter’s Liquor in NSW, McCoppins and Gum Tree in Victoria, Wine Emporium in Queensland and Liquor Barons in Western Australia. The RRP is $35.