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Rest in peace, Baby Duck, Mateus and white zinfandel. Or, at least, step aside. Dry rosé is on a roll.

Sales of the premium pink stuff are red hot, prompting a wave of new offerings. Enterprising winemakers from New Zealand to Napa Valley to Niagara to Naramata (in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley) are rushing into a segment once virtually synonymous with sun-soaked Provence.

The upshot: There has never been a better time to explore the official summer drink of suave French people with permanent Mediterranean tans.

At Vintages, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's premium wine and spirits stores, which tend to carry higher-priced wines, rosé sales jumped 25.6 per cent last year. By contrast, sales of white zinfandel - virtually all of which is sold through regular LCBO stores along with sweet Mateus and Baby Duck - dropped 1.8 per cent in the same period.

In British Columbia, rosé sales at government stores jumped 22 per cent in the past two years, to $6.6-million from $5.4-million, though there is no breakdown for dry rosés in particular.

Even in the white-zin-fortress United States, sales of premium pink wines - those priced above $6.50 (U.S.), the basic cutoff for sweeter styles - surged 23.9 per cent in dollar volume in 2006 over the previous year, according to market tracker Nielsen Company. Sales in the $8-plus category have been accelerating lately by more than 50 per cent a year.

The pale-red trend has even spawned its own glassware, a pink-tinted Vinum Rosé Glass from Riedel. The Austrian company is donating 15 per cent of the proceeds from its sale to The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in Canada in support of breast cancer research.

To some producers, the trend is baffling. There has been no Sideways effect (the way there was for pinot noir), no tabloid shot from Cannes of Clint Eastwood swigging from a bottle of Domaine Tempier (one of the best from Southern France), no pink cocktail involving vodka, rosé and the gals from That Movie (though I will bet such a drink could get traction if it were dubbed "Sex and the French Country").

I give some credit to the missionary work of sommeliers, who seem to be offering more pink wines by the glass, and to the growing sophistication of New World wine consumers. And there are terrific examples out there, such as Oyster Bay Merlot Rosé 2007 from New Zealand, Masi Modello Rosato Delle Venezie 2007 from Italy, Rosé of Pinot Noir Carneros 2007 from Etude in California and, unquestionably one of the best values anywhere, Marques de Caceres Rosado 2007 from Spain, at about $13.

In the past, when dry rosés weren't confused with sweet, candy-like white zinfandel, they were often dismissed as a compromise - a bridge that, in a pinch, could satisfy a table ordering fish as well as beef.

Versatile though dry rosés are, playing mediator is not their raison d'etre. They have their own unique virtues. Perhaps because of their Mediterranean affiliation, they are some of the most evocative wines on earth.

"Even in the middle of winter, they will make me think of grilled sardines, which are my favourite things in the world to eat with rosé," says Michael Dinn, who with his wife, Heidi Noble, runs Joie Wines in Naramata, B.C., which makes a terrific $25 rosé available in private stores in British Columbia and select retailers in Calgary, such as Bin 905 and Metrovino.

Whereas white wines typically suggest lean citrus or opulent tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango, the best rosés smack of mouthwatering summer berries. Rosés should be served chilled and most should be consumed within a year of purchase.

Not all rosés are worth the money. I find some of the newer, big-brand offerings in particular to have one foot in the white-zin world. Though technically dry, they taste like candy from a factory rather than fresh fruit.

There are various ways to make pale-red wine. One is to crush red grapes, then to "bleed off" some of the juice before it has time to acquire too much colour from the skins, a process the French call saignée.

This often is done by red-wine producers in years when the weather falls short of optimum. By bleeding off some juice, they concentrate skin solids and flavours in the remaining liquid. The rosé in effect becomes a byproduct, like the skim milk left over from butter or cream production. A second way to make rosé is to blend red and white wines.

Mr. Dinn, who makes no red wine at Joie, takes the most costly approach. He lets his pinot noir and gamay grapes steep, or macerate, for a week to acquire colour and flavour before squeezing all the juice away from the skins and fermenting it.

Mr. Dinn believes it produces a better result because he picks his grapes slightly early to retain optimum acidity for rosé rather than using super-ripe grapes picked for red wine, then having to "fix" the juice by adding acid back artificially, which he believes can lead to a confected, "Jolly Rancher" taste.

Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., is one producer that takes the saignée method seriously, however. Winemaker J-L Groux produced his 2006 Wildass Rosé (yes, that's the name) in what he calls the "claret" style, a reference to red Bordeaux wines of the 17th century which, believe it or not, were so light that the British affectionately dubbed them claret after a French term, clairet, signifying light or pale.

Mr. Groux takes an unusual step with his $19 Wildass (available in Ontario through the LCBO for the first time this year), aging it for 18 months in old French-oak barrels like a red wine for added flavour. It's the kind of pink you might pair with a piece of pork or chicken rather than sip on a sweltering summer day.

"It's a serious rosé, let's put it that way," he said.

Pale-red wines

Joie Rosé "Re-Think Pink" 2007 (B.C.), about $25

Fruit salad in a bottle, with juicy acidity and a hint of sweetness. Excellent.

Mouton Cadet Rosé 2007 (Bordeaux), about $13

Classic southern French style, fresh berries laced with herbs. Good.

Marques de Caceres Rosado 2007 (Spain), about $13

Coral pink and perfectly balanced. Strawberry-raspberry fruit with fresh acidity. Outstanding value.

Masi Modello Rosato

Delle Venezie 2007 (Italy), about $11

Rich in colour, juicy, concentrated cherry fruit, silky texture with balancing acidity. Perfect for pork. Outstanding value.

Oyster Bay Merlot Rosé 2007 (New Zealand), about $18

Rich red colour and substantial on the palate, like a good Beaujolais, only more refreshing. Very good.

Strewn Cabernet Rosé 2006 (Niagara), about $13

Sour strawberry with an attractive tobacco-herbal edge and firm acidity. A good candidate for rich pork dishes. Nice.

Château Val Joanis Côtes du Luberon Rosé 2006 (Rhone), about $12

Gorgeous salmon-pink hue, silky texture with subtle herbs and spices showing through the fresh strawberry. Very elegant. Amazing value.

Yering Station Pinot Noir Rosé 2006 (Australia), about $18

Classic, jammy pinot flavour leaps to the fore. Excellent length. Very good. Great match for salmon.

Beppi Crosariol

bcrosariol@globeandmail.com