Rosé Sales Are Declining, But These 5 Bottles Still Sell Out
Wine retailers are reporting a dip in rosé sales overall, but certain bottles continue to sell steadily—for good reason. Our wine columnist picks pinks that truly warrant their popularity.
ARE WE in the middle of rosé malaise? According to the retailers I talked with, the answer is yes…with an asterisk. Thanks to the rise of competing drinks (hard seltzer, canned cocktails), continuing Covid fallout and a boom in production all over the world that helped fuel a rosé glut, rosé sales are definitely less robust than in years past. Yet certain rosés are selling well. Indeed, some wines seem to be veritably malaise-proof.
At Crush Wine & Spirits in New York, I found a dozen or so rosés on display, but, according to Crush wine director Joe Salamone, he had many more just two years ago. “I scaled way back in 2022,” he said. The Covid shutdown curtailed in-store shopping, which put a big dent in rosé sales, and demand has yet to fully rebound. But, Salamone added, some labels still sell well. “Provence still rules,” he said.
Salamone named three Provençal wines as perennial bestsellers: the 2022 Peyrassol Les Commandeurs Côtes de Provence rosé ($25), the 2022 Château Pradeaux Bandol rosé ($27) and the 2022 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis rosé ($27). One non-Provencal pink, the 2022 Bernard Baudry Le Rosé Chinon rosé ($24), from the Loire Valley, is a consistent favorite as well. Another favorite, the Domaine Tempier Bandol rosé, was out of stock.
Jeffrey Wolfe, proprietor of Wolfe’s Wine Shoppe in Coral Gables, Fla., said that the Florida market has been so inundated with rosé “from every planetary system” during the past couple of years that it took some time to sell out. His perennial bestsellers include two from Provence: the 2022 Clos Ste Magdeleine Cassis rosé ($38) and the 2021 Domaine Tempier Bandol rosé ($59). One domestic bottling, too, consistently moves: the 2022 Arnot-Roberts Rosé ($30).
Daniel Posner of Grapes the Wine Company in White Plains, N.Y., still sells a fair amount of rosé “but definitely less than we used to.” By contrast, he added, “Canned cocktails are HOT.” The French pinks that sell well at Grapes include the aforementioned 2022 Peyrassol Les Commandeurs Côtes de Provence rosé and the 2022 Triennes Rosé ($17).
At Metro Wines in Asheville, N.C., rosé sales are down, but France remains the highest in sales in the category, reported co-proprietor Gina Trippi. She shared an analysis of rosé sales that Metro store manager Zach Eidson put together. It attributed reduced rosé sales to worldwide shipping delays. Sales of rosés overall were down by 12% last year, and have dipped similarly this year. Eidson also noted that there has been competing customer interest in skin-contact white wines, whose sales are up a whopping 230% year-over-year in 2023; they were up 140% the year prior. The French rosés that still sell well at Metro include the Domaine Houchart Côtes de Provence rosé ($17) and the 2022 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem rosé ($12 at Metro Wines; I paid $10 in New Jersey), from Languedoc, France.
Gary Fisch—founder and CEO of Gary’s Wine & Marketplace, which has locations in New Jersey and Napa Valley—also noted the delayed shipment of rosés last year: “A lot of ’21s didn’t get here until August.” That meant months of lost sales. Sancerre sales, meanwhile, are “through the roof.” In fact, Sauvignon Blanc from all over the world is hot. One rosé remains a standout: “Whispering Angel, by a large margin, is our number one rosé,” said Fisch. (This wine, from Château d’Esclans, sells for $22 at his stores.)
Whispering Angel isn’t selling so well at Total Wine & More’s 249 stores across the country—nor are rosés from California and Italy—but other French rosés are selling well, said Brian Gelb, vice president of wine merchandising and marketing. He singled out a few consistent sellers, including the 2022 Gérard Bertrand Cote des Roses rosé and the 2021 Rosé D’Anjou from Famille Bougrier ($15), a direct import wine from Total Wine. “We’ve seen double-digit growth on this item.”
How good are the rosés retailers say are their most reliable? To find out, I bought 14 of the wines that retailers named, at prices ranging between $10 and $27 a bottle.
The best of the less-expensive rosés was the 2022 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem rosé ($10), a blend of Cinsault, Carignan and Grenache produced in the Languedoc region in a partnership between the Guibert family of the famed Mas de Daumas Gassac and local growers. Light and pretty, it’s been one of my reliable, inexpensive, dry rosés for many years. Bonus for easy-breezy summer drinking: It comes in a screw cap.
How good are the rosés retailers say are the most reliable?
A couple of slightly pricier pinks were also quite pleasant. The 2022 Gérard Bertrand Cote des Roses rosé was a light, berry-inflected blend from the Bertrand empire, which turns out a good amount of well-made, reasonably priced wine in various appellations in France. The 2022 Triennes Rosé was fresh, and uncomplicatedly delicious, while the pale-salmon 2022 Château d’Esclans Whispering Angel rosé ($20) was quite light-bodied, more aperitif than food wine, with an attractive floral note. (Launched by Sacha Lichine in 2006, Whispering Angel is often credited as the dry rosé that created the rosé craze.)
The next three rosés were a bit more complex. The Grenache-dominant 2022 Peyrassol Les Commandeurs Côtes de Provence rosé, the entry-level rosé from a great Provençal estate, had a brisk acidity and aromas of red fruit. The crisp 2022 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis rosé was marked by a lovely mineral note. And the terrifically juicy 2022 Bernard Baudry Le Rosé Chinon rosé, a bit fuller-bodied, was my favorite rosé with food.
I was not, unfortunately, able to taste the Domaine Tempier Bandol rosé, as the 2022 vintage won’t arrive until later this summer, according to Anthony Lynch, sourcing manager of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Tempier’s longtime importer. But I do have some Tempier from last year in my cellar. This rosé is not only a reliable seller; it’s also a terrific wine for those who know it’s one rosé that actually gets better with time.
1. 2022 Château d’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé, $22. Whispering Angel is one of several wines under the Château d’Esclans label. This soft, pink, Provençal drink, created in 2006, helped to create a market for dry rosé stateside.
2. 2022 Peyrassol Les Commandeurs Côtes de Provence Rosé, $25. At 819 years old, Peyrassol is one of the oldest estates in Provence and a name synonymous with quality rosé. This crisp, elegant pink produced from organic fruit is Peyrassol’s entry-level rosé.
3. 2022 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis Rosé, $27. This wonderfully minerally rosé marked by floral and red fruit aromas is produced in the Cassis subregion of Provence. The domaine is a mere 200 meters from the Mediterranean Sea.
4. Gérard Bertrand Cote des Roses Rosé, $15. The bottle is a pleasure to behold. (Bertrand definitely knows how to market rosé.) The wine inside—a zesty dry blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah—is also a pleasure to drink.
5. 2022 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem Rosé, $10. Produced in a partnership between the Guibert family of the famed Mas de Daumas Gassac estate and a large group of Languedoc grape growers, this is a lively, light-bodied pink.