At a time when French wine is regrouping in the wake of Australia’s retail success, it must have come as yet another body blow to find that it has just been elbowed out of pole position by no less a wine power than the United States. Yes, the US, more specifically California, has kicked France out of the nest largely thanks to the performance of monster brands like Gallo, Echo Falls and Blossom Hill. American rosé in particular is A Big Thing with British consumers for whom life seems just a little bit sweeter when a dollop of sugar helps the medicine slip down. Not that success in the rosé stakes is confined to California. When I popped into Reh Kendermann of Black Tower ‘fame’ in Germany this month, they were ecstatic about the performance of their new Black Tower Rosé, the less said about which the better.

Where once rosé was the province of, er, Provence, the future now appears through rosé-tinted glasses in every New World wine producing country while producers in France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain are doing their best to play catch-up. Even champagne is converting white bubbles into pink ones. Look at the price of pink champagnes and you can see why rosé bubbles are game on for the champenois. Whereas the differential between vintage and simple NV brut champagne remains substantial, the premium that rosé champagne commands is making life rosy indeed for the champenois.

I feel it’s worth mentioning that the 1996 Dom Perignon Rosé will set you back £299 a bottle if it makes you feel better about not having to pay quite so à travers le nez for the new pink Bollinger Rosé, £55 from Berry Bros. (0870 900 4300), Roberson (020 7371 2121), Harrods, Fortnums, Harvey Nichols, whose sumptuous strawberry mousse and cream confection does a lot more than it says on the tin. If the Bolly is still more of a debenture holder’s extravagance for you, the stylish mouthwatering Piper Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage Champagne, £29.99, Waitrose, is considerably less extravagant, while for a People’s Saturday Bolly, Australia’s fragrant, crisply refreshing and raspberryish 2004 Vintage Green Point Brut Rosé, £15.99, Waitrose, is, literally, just the ticket.

As rosé transcends the old naff image thanks to a genuine improvement in quality, it has become the fastest growing category in wine and is propped up by the retail sector to the extent that even pukka independent wine merchants like London’s Lea & Sandeman and Wiltshire’s Yapp Bros now boast substantial sections of serious rosé. These are on the whole the drier styles of rosé and in my book that’s where the quality and drinkability in rosé lies. Not only has there been a sea-change in the quality of rosé since it became an item with the drinking public, but quality dry rosé is so much more summery, refreshing and food-friendly than its mawkish, sugar-coated counterpart.

Provence is still a benchmark for good dry rosé drunk on a summer’s day with salads and picnics. If you’re looking for this refreshingly dry kind of elegance, try the pale salmon blush, fresh aromatic berry fruit fragrance and thirstquenchingly dry raspberry and redcurrant fruitiness of the 2007 Château Pigoudet la Chapelle Rosé, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, £7.99, buy 2 = £6.99, Majestic. More quintessentially food-friendly, the 2007 Château d’Aquéria Rosé, Tavel, £9.99, or buy 2 = £9.49, Majestic, £9.95, Berry Bros. (0987 900 4300), is full-bodied, ripe and full-flavoured with masses of red berry fruit concentration balanced by crisp acidity.

From Italy, the pale salmon colour and fresh berry fragrance of the 2007 Prendina Estate Rosé, Azienda Agricola Cavalchina, £7.99, Marks and Spencer, makes for a refreshing mouthful while Portugal offers excellent value with its aromatic, redcurranty 2007 Vinha da Urze Rosé, £5.99, or 4 for 3 from Monday = £4.49, Marks & Spencer. For a true People’s Saturday rosé, the well-made bargain basement Gran Tesoro Garnacha Rosé, Campo de Borja, £2.99, Tesco, manages both cheap and cheerful, and if you still feel short-changed on sweetness, the 2007Champteloup Selection Rosé d’Anjou, £4.99, Waitrose, is not the mawkish Rosé d’Anjou of yesteryear but a juicy strawberry and bubblegum off-dry style with enough nip to keep the palate lively and fresh. Championship stuff!

Something For the Weekend 28 June 2008

Under a Fiver

2007 Taste the Difference Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur lie, £4.99, Sainsbury’s

A worthy member of Sainsbury’s excellent Taste the Difference wine range, this is a typically crisp, spritz-fresh, bone dry muscadet from the estate of Jean Douillard who manages to create the necessary thirstquenching tang thanks to leaving the wine on its grape lees in tank.

Under a Tenner.

2002 De Bortoli All Rounder Semillon, £7.19, Tesco

Australian semillon often needs a few years bottle age for its distinctive flavours to come into their own; like the New South Wales de Bortoli family’s dry white, whose dried apricot and citrus peel fruit characters are rounded out with a vouvray-like honeyed richness.

Splash Out

2006 Wild Earth Central Otago Pinot Noir, £102.55, case of 6, Marks & Spencer online

Made by ex-Villa Maria winemaker Michelle Richardson in South Island’s scenic lake district of Central Otago, this Kiwi pinot noir is so strawberry-fragrant and raspberry fruity that its sheer moreishness requires not just another glass but another bottle …and another...