Domaine la Colombette, Grenache Rosé

This rosé is a cracker of a wine and you are strongly advised to get to know it.

The winery first made it because their grandmother loved the flavour of Grenache when it was cooled, so they made her a rosé and they now say that, given her health, it must be a wine that keeps you young.

These guys are lovely people to boot; ever-so slightly toward the eccentric end of enthusiastic, they make really bright, fresh and engaging wines that are always a representation of the family's view of the vineyards, rather than any adherence to local codes of governance or appellation laws.

This allows more freedom, should they want it, and under the Vin de Pays and now Vin de France laws, pretty much anything can go. But that doesn't mean they don't care! This wine has won more awards than any other that they make and they enter it every year for prestigious competitions - it's won Judge's Favourite in its category for 10 consecutive vintages in the Paris wine fair... And they also tackle the "summer only" tag hat rosés often wear, saying that this wine is an important part of the estate's whole image and is something (not just granny) that they drink year round.

It's especially good with tapas and grilled meats.

Made in both rosé manners, grapes from the young vines are gently pressed, while grapes from older vines are crushed and the colour from the skins simply bleeds off into the juice. It sounds gory, but the results are anything-but.