50 rosé wines to try

These are the best rosé wines for enjoying long summer afternoons – the kind to bring to a barbecue, to pair with fresh seafood, or to BYO to your favourite Thai restaurant.

Rosé comes in a broad spectrum of colours, from pale salmon to copper-gold, right through to deep red. The colour of the rosé can often be a clue to the grape variety used during the winemaking process. When it comes to the base grapes used in rosé, the most popular include grenache, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz/syrah, sangiovese, nebbiolo, montepulciano, tempranillo, mataro/mourvèdre, and gamay.

Rosé wines typically have fruit-forward flavours and floral characteristics like rose petals, violets and hibiscus. It's not uncommon for a rosé to display notes of celery, green capsicum and olive.

Below are 50 of the best Australian rosé and sparkling rosé wines to try. Margaret River has seven wines in this list, with Nocturne leading the charge with its 96-point 2024 Carbunup SR Rosé. Nocturne is the label of Deep Woods' Julian Langworthy. Its base is sangiovese and tempranillo and Jane Faulkner says it's "another excellent offering from the King of Pink..." 

Also from Margs is Aravina Estate's 2024 Limited Release Grenache Rosé, which is 95 points, along with examples from Howard Park, L.A.S. Vino, La Kooki, Wines of Merritt and Thompson Estate. There are a slew of wines from the Barossa, including rosé from Jaysen Collins' Ollin, CRFT Wines and Brothers at War.

If you're after a rosé with bubbles, there are 11 sparkling rosé wines from Tasmania, the Yarra Valley and Orange to choose from. House of Arras' 2016 Rosé, which was released last month, is 96 points. Still in Tassie, Josef Chromy's NV Sparkling Rosé comes highly recommended, while up in Orange, Printhie's Swift Brut Rosé #12 is $52. Shanteh Wale says the Swift offers "so much value for your coin."

Expand your knowledge with Halliday Wine Academy

Through Introduction to Wine, students will learn about Australian wine and wine regions, how wine is made, how to taste and describe wine, how to approach food and wine matches, along with handy tips that address common wine questions. And in part one of our Wines of the World course, discover and explore the iconic wines, regions and laws of France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Germany and Austria.

Image credit: Wine Australia.