With its blush hue and easy-drinking palate, rosé is a warm-weather staple with undeniable appeal. No longer just a beach bag essential, rosé is today a mainstay on serious wine lists. That’s because the rosés on wine shop shelves are no longer the saccharine pinks of generations past. Today, options on the market are vast, with profiles from floral and fresh, to earthy and herbaceous. Here are some of our favorites:

Our top choice: Le Fraghe, Ròdon Bardolino Chiaretto 2020 made with organic grapes 80% Corvina, 20% Rondinella. Cherry red with rich purple highlights, this delicious rosato from Verona has inviting berry, violet and culinary spice aromas. Cherry red with rich purple highlights, Ròdon boasts a complex mosaic of well-defined, very fragrant aromas. Seductive notes of wild rose are the first to emerge, followed by nuances of wild strawberry and redcurrant that linger and complete an elegant bouquet. The dry, tangy palate displays notes of white pepper and saline which meet ripe cherry, strawberry and citrus. An emphatic crispness and full body, the happy result of a perfect balance between ultra-savory flavors and a tasty minerality, characteristics that are classic to this terroir, and excellent supporting tannins and acidity. The finish is notably lengthy, and nicely mirrors the aromas offered by the nose. About $16, a steal for a bottle of this quality.

Herose Mediterranee 2021. This bright wine is very aromatic with notes of citrus fowers and red fruit aromas. In the mouth, the controlled acidity combined with the citrus aromas add more freshness and gives the wine a perfect balance with the
red fruits and citrus blossom.

Fournier Sancerre Pinot Noir Rose 2020 from the Loire Valley. Refreshing and smooth. Not too sweet, not too dry. The palest of pink, summer in a bottle.

Tresor des Sables Tavel 2021. Crisp strawberry and cherry-blossom notes perfume this full-bodied but freshly balanced Grenache blend. Deep pink in color, the juicy wine is packed with sun-kissed red-cherry and berry flavors along with a zesty spine of crushed stone and salty minerals. 

Domaine de Rodylee rose d’automne Cotes du Rhone 2020. A gastronomic vintage made from a carbonic maceration of Grenache to create a unique rosé dedicated to wine experts who are looking for a complex rosé. With its partridge eye color, its flavors of red fruit, morello cherry and cherry, it is a rosé perfect with a certain minerality and a taste of custard which give it a roundness and a “Gourmandise” in the mouth.