When summer comes around, thoughts turn to the choice of best rosé wines. It’s not that long ago that the only rosé wines you found in the UK were sickly sweet and less refreshing than a warm shower. But trips abroad, especially to the south of France, led to the discovery of a whole new generation of rosé wines that are dry, vibrant and eminently drinkable.
Now that fashion for rosé, usually of the delicate blush variety rather than the more crimson type, has spread from the old world to the new. In the UK, it makes up around 11 per cent of the wine market. It’s also fast becoming a year-round choice rather than just something to be sampled in the summer months. Last year, for instance, one supermarket chain saw December outperforming July for sales of rosé.
Steve Garwood, buying manager for wine at Tesco, thinks part of the rise is due to digital interaction. “We’re seeing a huge rise in demand for rosé, driven in large part by TikTok and social media trends,” he said. “Rosé has become a symbol of relaxed, aspirational luxury and our customers want a piece of that lifestyle.”
If you want not only sunshine in a glass, but that taste of luxury all year round, then rosé has got to be the go-to choice, and I’ve rounded up the best options here.
Read more: Best supermarket rosés, according to experts
The best rosé wines for 2026 are:
- Best overall – G de Galoupet Côtes de Provence rosé 2025: £23, Laithwaites.co.uk
- Best young rosé – Musar Jeune rosé: £18.95, Fortnumandmason.com
- Best celebrity rosé – Roseblood d'Estoublon Coteaux Varois en Provence rosé : £20, Majestic.co.uk
- Best Italian rosé – Pasqua Y by 11 Minutes organic rosé: £23, Majestic.co.uk
- Best South African rosé – Journey's End Wild Child rosé: £12.25, Ocado.com
Read more: 9 best supermarket wines right now according to sommeliers and experts
G de Galoupet Côtes de Provence rosé
Rating: 5/5
Best: rosé overall
Why we love it
- The essence of Provence in a glass
- Fruit-forward taste
- Smooth aftertaste
This G de Galoupet organic rosé is from a Provençal vineyard that’s been on the map since the 18th century, and is the best rosé wine I’ve tried. After some years of neglect, the vineyard was taken over in 2019 and turned into the award-winning estate it is today. A blend of five grape varieties goes into this wine – grenache, cinsault, rolle, syrah and tibouren – resulting in a fruit-forward taste with notes of berries and tropical soft fruits, plus hints of citrus and honey.
There’s a beautiful balance between that Mediterranean freshness and a more polished and smoother aftertaste. It’s a taste of summer that you can enjoy all year round as an aperitif or an accompaniment to a light lunch.
Key specifications:
Buy now £23, Laithwaites.com
Musar Jeune rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: young rosé
Why we love it
- Appealing and approachable
- Bright citrus flavours
- Crisp acidity
Despite recent events, Chateau Musar, now run by the third generation of the Hochar family, remains one of Lebanon’s and indeed the world’s most famous and respected wineries. It has been producing world-class wines from the Bekaa Valley since the 1930s and the family’s philosophy of non-interventionist winemaking guarantees wine and indeed rosé of the highest quality.
A blend of young cinsault grapes with a dash of mourvèdre, it’s salmon pink in colour and revels in its youthful citrus flavours allied to hints of peaches and cream. A crisp and welcome acidity rounds things off nicely.
Key specifications:
Buy now £18.95, Fortnumandmason.com
Roseblood d'Estoublon Coteaux Varois en Provence rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: celebrity rosé
Why we love it
- Plenty of stone-fruit flavour
- Zingy strawberry notes
- Refreshing minerality
Singer, songwriter and former First Lady of France, Carla Bruni bought Château d’Estoublon and its extensive estate in Provence with husband and ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy, plus two others, in 2020. Roseblood wine was launched the following year with a fanfare of feel good publicity.
However, behind the flowery trappings there lies a remarkably good wine with oodles of stone-fruit flavour and zingy strawberry notes. There’s also a welcome minerality to stop it all becoming too hearts and flowers.
Key specifications:
Buy now £20, Majestic.co.uk
Pasqua Y by 11 Minutes organic rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: Italian rosé
Why we love it
- Light and lively
- Healthy acidity
- Fun peek-a-boo label
Let’s get the name out of the way first. Eleven minutes is how long the grapes are pressed against the must (the skins, seeds and stems), and this contact gives this prize-winning wine its attractive pale salmon-pink hue. The Y symbolises the blend of three different grape varieties that go into this wine – the muscular corvina with its red fruit hints, the more delicate and citrussy trebbiano and finally the spicy carmenére.
What you end up with is a structured, light but lively rosé with bags of character and a healthy acidity. The label is also as stylish as the wine, with a peek-a-boo label that reveals the artwork on the other side of the bottle.
Key specifications:
Buy now £23, Majestic.co.uk
Journey's End Wild Child rosé
Rating: 4/5
Best: South African rosé
Why we love it
- Bright and cheerful
- Fruit-forward
- Reasonably priced
The Gabb family, originally from Shropshire, bought the Journey’s End wine farm with its 40 hectares of vineyards in 1996 and set about creating wines that show off the terroir of this sometimes challenging region.
This rose is from Swartland, an area 50km north of Cape Town that was once better known for its grain and its sheep that it was for its wine. But this 100 per cent grenache, made from grapes grown at 750m above sea level, reveals its fruit-forward character with imposing notes of ripe cherry, raspberry and strawberry and underlying flinty crispness.
Key specifications:
Buy now £12.25, Ocado.com
Famille Lafont Tavel rosé
Rating: 4/5
Best: non-blush rosé
Why we love it
- Deep pink and proud of it
- Big and earthy red and soft fruit flavours
- Notes of spice and pepper
Admit it, part of the appeal of rosé is that pale salmon-pink and sometimes almost colourless hue that shouts out summer’s here. Well, here’s a full-bodied and robust rosé that is not afraid to show its true colours – a deep rosy pink.
Famille Lafont’s Tavel rosé comes from a region in the Rhône Valley which only produces rosé wines. With mainly grenache cinsault, carignan and syrah in the mix, the outcome is a savoury rosé with big and earthy red and soft fruit flavours, notes of spice and pepper and a crisp minerality. It’s a wine to enjoy by itself or with a light and spicy meal.
Key specifications:
Buy now £13, Tesco.com
Rogers & Rufus Barossa rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: New World rosé
Why we love it
- Refreshingly delicate
- More on the savoury side
Meet Australian winemaker Mr Hill-Smith and British entrepreneur Mr Clevely – better known by their first names as Rogers and Rufus. After meeting in a London pub and seeing a gap in the market, they crafted a Provençal-style rosé from established grenache vines in the Barossa Valley.
Using natural yeasts, the wine benefits from being more on the savoury side of the palate, with delicate but consistent flavours of red berries and strawberries along with hints of blossom. It’s a wine that Rogers and Rufus believe should go with the finer things in life, which in their mind should be "surfing or fishing and anything in-between".
Key specifications:
Buy now £14.98, Drinksdirect.com
Marques De Caceres Excellens Rioja rosé
Rating: 4/5
Best: Spanish rosé
Why we love it
- Classy and refined
- Soft floral notes
- Lengthy finish
Marques De Caceres Excellens is a made from tempranillo and garnacha grapes, which are hand-picked in the early hours during the coolest part of the day. They’re then quickly taken to the winery to avoid oxidation, and preserve the pale pink colour and elegant aroma.
The end result is a crisp and refined rosé with white fruit flavours enhanced by soft floral notes and a lengthy finish. It’s a wine that shows its class in every mouthful. And once purchased, don’t wait too long to drink it – its elegance and vibrancy is best enjoyed this year or next.
Key specifications:
Buy now £13.99, Finewinesdirectuk.com
Feudo Chiaretto Riviera del Garda Classico La Feliciana
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: mid-range rosé
Why we love it
- Luxury taste at a reasonable price
- Low intervention production
- Cherry and strawberry notes
This is a rosé from southern shore of Lake Garda where brothers Massimo and Giorgio Sbruzzi began producing fine wines in 1984. Their non-interventionist policy means that no fertiliser or chemical herbicide is used in the vineyard, cover crops sprout between the rows, and there’s minimal tilling of the soil.
Made using barbera and sangiovese grapes, along with the lesser known marzemino and groppello varieties, it's a pale pink rosé that luxuriates in cherry and strawberry notes, while still offering a healthy minerality and a lengthy finish. As with lots of rosés, it’s a wine that best enjoyed at the moment, or within a year or so.
Key specifications:
Buy now £18.95, Leaandsandeman.co.uk
Domaine Des Pierecèdes rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: organic rosé
Why we love it
- Fruity and balanced
- Hint of salinity
Girls rule in this wonderfully situated Provençal winery between Toulon and St Tropez. Alain Baccino and his wife Véronique built the winery adjoining the Pierecèdes farmhouse in 1990. Nowadays, it’s daughters Audrey and Leslie who work alongside their parents on the family estate, with winemaker Audrey crafting the wines and Leslie managing the administrative side of the business.
The usual suspects – grenache, syrah and cinsault – combine to create a splendidly fruity and balanced rose, with notes of ripe soft fruits aided by a hint of salinity from the nearby Mediterranean.
Key specifications:
Buy now £19.5, Vintageroots.co.uk
The Heretics disobedient rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: English rosé
Why we love it
- Refreshingly different
- Delicious combination of soft fruit, red berries and citrus
- Stunning label
There’s something about rosé wines that attracts male duos. We’ve already had Rogers & Rufus and Italian brothers Massimo and Giorgio. Now let’s introduce the likely lads of the English wine world, consultant Gareth Maxwell and design guru Jimmy Hunter.
They’ve produced a rosé that’s as far from a Provençal offering as Essex’s Crouch Valley is from St Tropez. Fermented in old Burgundy barrels and bottled in dark glass to protect it from the light, it’s a pinot noir that shouts out soft fruit, red berries and citrus and backs it up with a bass line of muscular minerality. With a stunning label employing the talents of photographer Jack Waddington, it’s almost more a work of art than a bottle of wine.
Key specifications:
Buy now £32, Wearetheheretics.com
Henri Bourgeois Sancerre Comte Jean Marechal rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: Loire Valley rosé
Why we love it
- French rosé but not as we know it
- Delicate but well-balanced red-berry flavours
- Strong enough to taken on spiced Asian dishes
We’ve left Provence and moved up country to the equally beautiful and equally renowned Loire Valley. Sancerre on the Loire’s left bank is an appellation where, according to the Bourgeois family, “sometimes the slopes are swept by the wind, while at others they are bathed in sunlight”.
Known for its flinty sauvignon blancs, it also produces wonderfully appealing pinot noir rosés like this one with its delicate but well-balanced red-berry flavours. And don't be taken in by its delicate appeal. Elegant it may be, but it's also robust and strong enough to taken on spiced Asian or Chinese dishes.
Key specifications:
Buy now £22.5, Corneyandbarrow.com
Clos Sainte Magdeleine Cassis rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: rosé to enjoy with seafood
Why we love it
- A crustacean classic
- Bright red berry and ripe stone fruit flavours
- Crisp minerality
From a stunningly situated vineyard perched on the edge of the Mediterranean at Cassis comes the best rosé for seafood, from lobster to langoustine. Pale pink and made from grenache, cinsault and mourverdre grapes, it benefits from bright but not showy red berry and ripe stone fruit flavours allied to a crisp but not too flinty minerality.
It'd probably best consumed where the grapes are picked, on the beautiful slopes of Cap Canaille, near the Arène beach in Cassis. But if you can’t manage to make it there, then a bottle bought here should bring some of that magic home.
Key specifications:
Buy now £31, Yapp.co.uk
Gérard Bertrand Clos du Temple organic rosé
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: luxury rosé
Why we love it
- Complex and intense taste
- Crisp acidity
- Vibrant finish
Take note
- Very pricey
If you’re paying close to £200 for a bottle of rosé you expect something extra special and this signature wine from former French rugby star turned winemaker Gérard Bertrand does not disappoint. It’s a blend of grenache noir, cinsault, syrah, mourvèdre and viognier grown in his biodynamic vineyard in the heart of the Languedoc region.
Harvested manually at daybreak, the grapes are kept in cold room overnight before being gently pressed the following day – thus preserving the freshness and heightening the aromatics. The taste is complex and intense with layer upon layer being revealed like a Russian doll. Think notes of ripe peach and stoned fruits married to a crisp acidity, topped off with a lively and vibrant finish.
Key specifications:
Buy now £188.99, Majestic.co.uk
The Legends Bordeaux Tutiac rosé
Rating: 4/5
Best: budget rosé
Why we love it
- Elegance at a budget price
- Fruity notes
- Well-tempered acidity
Take note
- Only available in store
This is a pale rosé from Tutiac, a renowned Bordeaux co-operative of more than 500 growers on both sides of the Gironde river. It's a splendid addition to Spar’s newly launched Legends series curated by Master of Wine Philippa Carr.
“We wanted a slightly different style of rosé wine to southern French offerings. I am a fan of the producer Tutiac so the Legends Bordeaux rosé was the fresh, elegant, food friendly wine we selected.”
The wine, made from 100 per cent merlot grapes, lives up that promise with forthright fruity notes and a well-tempered acidity. You can enjoy it as an everyday aperitif or as a go-to choice for a barbecue, but it’s only available in Spar stores.
Key specifications:
Buy now £14, Spar.co.uk
What is the best rosé wine?
Rosé has long been seen as perfect summer drink, but as sales figures show it is now being accepted as a wine for all seasons. As a wine expert, the best rosé I’ve tried is G de Galoupet’s Côtes de Provence rosé. It’s summer sunshine caught in a bottle and takes me back to the rosé homeland of Provence, with beautifully balanced notes of berries and tropical soft fruits.
If you’re looking for something more affordable the Journey's End Wild Child rosé is bright and cheerful, and can often be found on offer for £10. But if you really want to push the boat out there’s the once-in-a-lifetime Clos du Temple at a cool £188. In between there’s a vast range of excellent, eminently drinkable roses, such as Rogers & Rufus Barossa from Australia and the Italian charm of Feudo Chiaretto Riviera del Garda Classico La Feliciana.
How I tested the best rosé wine
I sampled all the rosé wines in this guide under optimum tasting conditions, chilled, with the lighter blush wines served slightly colder than the darker styles. Clear glasses were used to assess the colour and the wines were swirled in the glass to release the aromas, and enhance the taste and quality of the wine.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
John Clarke draws on his lifelong passion for wine to compile reviews and guides on the wide range of wines available to consumers. He started writing wine and spirit reviews for The Independent more than 10 years ago, and has discussed everything from ports and whisky for IndyBest. He put his extensive wine knowledge to good use when testing a wide range of wines for this review, offering his verdict on which rosé wines are worth your money.
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