‘Not just for summer’: France turns to rosé wine as a year-round tipple

Once dismissed as a swimming pool drink, rose is becoming the go-to wine for the French as traditions change

For the French, a glass of chilled blush rose was once considered a delicate but not entirely serious swimming pool drink"; a summer aperitif for lightweight, often female, tipplers.

Real wine lovers would select a red heavy with tannins, or a traditional white - both considered the true expression of French terroir, the untranslatable concept encompassing not just the soil in which the vines grow but also the natural, geological climatic and cultural elements associated with it.