La vie en rose

Rose used to be fairly terrible. Still, provided the wine was cold enough and the weather hot enough, it was just about drinkable. No longer – rose is now well made and fairly serious wine.

Good rose started with Domaine Ott from Provence; even 20 years ago that was commanding £15 plus a bottle (due, it must be admitted, to the demands of Club 55 and similar establishments in St Tropez).

I first made rose in Bordeaux in 1990. My consultant winemaker was Michel Rolland, then largely

unknown. In order to improve the quality of our red wine by increasing the grape skin to juice ratio he suggested we make 1,000 cases of rose by bleeding off this excess juice. I asked him how he thought we could sell it. Your problem, he replied. With his help we made a good wine - and by a stroke of good fortune the late Auberon Waugh described it as "possibly the best rose in the world". A slight exaggeration, but jolly nice of him. It was, though, the first serious Rose made in