Paxton Shiraz Rose 2009 (Mclaren Vale, SA)
$20, Screwcap, 11.5%
Source: Sample
www.paxtonvineyards.com

It’s hot.

So hot that most white wines just pass through you without touching any sort of side, with beer doing the same.

Curiously, I actually find myself drawn to textural whites at this time of year – like Alsatian whites – but my summer red of choice is unquestionably rose (if you can call rose ‘red’). Charles Melton usually gets my first pick as pink of choice, usually because it offers more flavour and less sugar (so you can slam it down fast), but I found myself drinking this quite easily, even though it is just a little odd.

A lolly/raspberry cordial pink pink, this smells like strawberries and dirt, with something meaty in there too. The palate is dry enough to be crisp and refreshing, but the pretty, sweet rosewater flavours make for real simple juicy fruit appeal.

Curiously, 7% of this was fermented in new oak, which is an unusual move for rose, but perhaps makes for a more textural and interesting drink. What’s even more surprising is that it actually tastes hot through the finish, which makes me think that the grapes must have been very ripe indeed when they came in.

Still, this is a refreshing and quite full flavoured rose that proved very popular on a warm sydney afternoon. I’m not totally convinced by the style, hence the low score, but in this heat it’s the drinkability that counts. 16.8/88