The Wine Buff: Coming up rosé

Or having a delicious frozé - a grown-up rosé slushie. You'll find it on tap in some restaurants, including Chimac, the amazing Korean chicken restaurant on Dublin's Aungier Street.

The 'summer in a bottle' moniker has become a rosé cliché, but it is quite apt, as the delicately hued, dry Provençal style of rosé owes much of its popularity to people holidaying in the South of France. And being the South of France, there are of course some prestigious names which have contributed to the popularity of this style. Cruise along the Croisette in Cannes and you'll see distinctive-looking bottles like Domaine Ott Clos Mireille, Château d'Esclans Whispering Angel, and Brad and Angelina's Château Miraval rosé languishing in ice buckets on chi-chi restaurant tables.

Are they worth the price? It all depends. Yes, they are beautifully made wines; perfumed and poised, and decidedly better than the less expensive rosés that you see lined up on supermarket shelves. But, then again, Aldi's Exquisite Collection Côtes de Provence Rosé is €8.99 and Whispering Angel clocks in at around €35, so if you're having a crowd around, I'd say go for the less expensive option, chill the hell out of it, and your guests will be perfectly happy.

However, the fashion for pale "onion skin" rosé is a relatively recent phenomenon. The light colour is achieved by minimising contact with the grape skins in a process called direct pressing, where the whole grapes are pressed slowly, allowing a hint of the pigment from the broken skins to tint the wine. But a more classic way of making rosé allows for some contact with the skins: the grapes are crushed and the skins are left to macerate in the juice for two to 24 hours, so you get a deeper colour, a little touch of tannin and more complexity.

With the current "pale is beautiful" mood, darker rosés are often overlooked. There is a perception that the darker the colour, the sweeter the wine. But this is seldom the case. When I was in Navarra last year, I tasted some lovely, intensely coloured rosés; and more recently at a wine tasting, I discovered a rosé which stood out because it was so deeply coloured, glimmering like a jewel. It is called La Maldición (The Curse), which is a reference to the difficulty that labourers and farmers have reaching the rocky vineyards where the old Tempranillo and Malvar bush vines grow.

It's in a hilly village, 700-800m above sea level, in the Arganda del Rey sub-zone, southeast of Madrid, and is a personal project of winemaker Marc Isart. Wines like this are not made in big quantities, so it's well worth checking out. It's one of three very different rosé wines in today's line-up.

La Maldición Clarete 2018

€15.50, 12pc, from Green Man Wines, Baggot Street Wines, Blackrock Cellar, First Draft Coffee & Wine, Ely 64 Wine, Ely Maynooth, Lilliput Stores, Clontarf Wines, Redmond's and Lilac Wines

Organic and wild-fermented, this joyful Clarete has a spicy nose, with ripe raspberries, savoury cranberry, red apple skins and a snap of tangerine zest.

Guerrieri Rizzardi ChiaretTo 2018

€16.95, or €12.71 when you buy one and get second half price, 13.5pc, from O'Briens

A pale rosé from the Veneto region of Italy, this blend of Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara and Sangiovese has juicy flavours with yellow peach, restrained strawberry and orange blossom.

ViÑa Albali Frizzante 5.5 Rosé

€4.99, 5.5pc, from Spar, Eurospar, Londis and Mace

If you're looking for a sparkling wine that's lower in alcohol, this easy-drinking rosé made from partially fermented Tempranillo grapes is very light and juicy, packed with ripe red berries. The alcohol is barely discernible.

Grapevine

The outdoor area at CHQ in Dublin's Docklands has just got bigger. When the sun is shining, this is one of the top spots in the city. First was Ely, then Urban Brewing, and now the wonderful Epic Museum has teamed up with Urban Brewing to offer a great outdoor area to hang in after you've visited the museum. They're serving their special craft beers as well as some tasty bites.