http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/magazine/7959460.stm Version 0 of 1. <p> <span class="byl"> By Finlo Rohrer </span> <br /> <span class="byd"> BBC News Magazine </span> <br />Rosé is rising everywhere but most dramatically in the UK<b>Once it was looked down on by wine drinkers but rosé's inclusion in the basket of goods used to work out inflation shows the power of its inexorable rise.</b><p><b></b><p>Rosé is in the basket. Wine in cardboard boxes is out of the basket.<p>To be included in the Office for National Statistics' basket of goods, used to calculate the main measures of UK inflation, suggests a certain degree of significance.<p>And the stats appear to bear their view out.<p>According to figures from VINEXPO/IWSR, UK consumption of rosé went up 64% between 2003 and 2007. It is forecast to rise by 48% between 2008 and 2012.<p>One of the UK's biggest sellers of wine, Tesco, said its sales of rosé went up 23% in the year to the end of February. <b>There still are lots of rosés that are on the spectrum of nastiness</b><br clear="all"/> Adam Lechmere<br />Decanter.com <p>And while rosé sales are rising in the wider world, in the UK they are spilling over. Consumption across the globe went up a mere 13% between 2003 and 2007.<p>So why the sudden British love for wine that is pinkish in hue?<p>It could be all about the weather, says wine critic Malcolm Gluck, author of The Great Wine Swindle.<p>The summer of 2003 was record-breakingly hot in the UK, and a run of milder winters in the years that followed may have changed drinking habits.<p><b>More barbecues</b><p>"Rosé has stopped being something you only drink in the hot months," says Mr Gluck.<p>"There are more barbecues, people like eating outside and rosé fills the gap."<p>There's also a case that people eating spicy food either Indian or Chinese or Thai, may prefer something that is the wine equivalent of a light lager, Mr Gluck notes. They're happy because they drink rosé <p>"It goes with a lot of ethnic foods people like to eat."<p>Adam Lechmere, editor of Decanter.com, concurred with the view that the summer of 2003 provided a major boost for rosé .<p>"The summer of 2003 sent the rosé market through the roof. It was a long hot summer. People suddenly cottoned on to it as a very nice summer drink. It has risen more or less consistently since then."<p>Of course, rosé has had to overcome an image problem. A whole category of wine was associated with slightly unfashionable brands like Mateus Rosé . It was seen as a bit 1970s and unsophisticated.<p>But that image has now been dispelled, says Mr Lechmere, whose magazine conducted a survey in 2007 on the issue of rosé. <p>"We asked 'can rosé ever be a serious wine?' and 90% said yes so stop being so snobbish."<p>Of course there are plenty of wine buffs who would take a non-rosé tinted view of the cough mixture-esque blush zinfandels that clutter the shelves of their local convenience store.<p>"There still are lots of rosés that are on the spectrum of nastiness, there are also a lot of very, very nice full bodied delicious serious rosés from all over the world," says Mr Lechmere.<p>And it can be argued that the wine industry has succeeded in bringing non-wine drinkers in. You can even find people in bars drinking rosé with ice.<p>"People feel there's something non-confrontational about rosé, you are not drinking wine you are drinking something else", says Mr Gluck.<p>"It may be that rose is seen more as a cocktail."<p><hr /><p><b>Send us your comments using the form below.</b><p><a name="say"></a><form method="post" action="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/cgiemail/newstalk/form.txt"> <input name="email_subject" type="hidden" value="rosé"> <input name="mailto" type="hidden" value="the.magazine"> <input name="success" type="hidden" value="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3042292.stm"> Name |