Meet Italian Rosato – our new rosé wine blend

Rosé has never been better than it is today. Boosted by a love for Provence, the quality of rosé across the world has taken a step up and is every bit as delicious and exciting as its white and red siblings. Italian rosé, or rosato as we should call it, stretches north to south across ten different latitudes and leads to an array of different styles of pink wine.  

Let’s start with the basics: rosato is usually made from red grapes that have only had a short time to rest on its skins after they have been crushed. Most red grapes have coloured skins but clear juice – try splitting open a red grape and having a look – and it’s the skin that adds both colour and tannin to the wine. When you crush red grapes the colour lightly spills into the grape juice before the wine is then fermented off its skins. The result is a white wine-like structure but with flavours and aromas that give a nod to those ones you’d find in red, like berries and plums. 

Italian rosato is sometimes overlooked by wine lovers in favour of French Mediterranean rosé but there’s a rosato for every rosé fan in Italy. In the north, the wines are crisp and fresh and often made from Pinot Noir. In central Italy, Sangiovese can be a popular choice, making a rosato with some colour and more cherry and orange aromas. As you get further south, Primitivo and Negroamaro start to be used, creating a range of rosato from lightly coloured wines with summer berry notes or deeper rosato with plummy character. 

The best rosato, however, comes from blends. These give winemakers the opportunity to create a palate of different wine flavours from a variety of grapes and vineyards.  

What’s in our rosato wine and what does it taste like? 

The Crew’s Rosato is a coral pink wine made up of Primitivo, Negroamaro, Nero di Troia and Aleatico harvested from Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. Primitivo is dark skinned and makes up most of the blend, giving it colour and aromas of black cherry. Negroamaro, one of our favourite grapes, is a plummy variety with summer fruits and gentle tannins, adding texture and roundness. Nero di Troia is the aromatic element, giving violets and summer berries. Aleatico, a grape you don’t find all too often but has its own cult following amongst wine lovers, is a ruby-hued grape with beautifully floral aromas like rose and magnolia. 

Together, our rosato is a fruit-forward and bright wine with an alluring floral nose and bright finish. 

What should I drink it with? 

Rosato is a great choice for cheese lovers, matching with hard and salty cheese like Parmesan as well as it does with a soft, gloopy and warm Camembert. Rosato, as it is a warmer style rosé than the light Provence style, is also exceptionally good with classic Italian dishes like pizza or pasta. It is also moreish with grilled shrimp, or fish and chips. 

Find our more about our Rosato and buy cans here.