The Best Kosher Rosé Wines

Rosé is the wine people most often buy wrong. Two bottles can be the same colour, the same price and the same size, and one will be bracingly dry while the other tastes like fruit punch. The colour tells you almost nothing. The region and the words on the back label tell you everything.

So here is the short version of how rosé works, and then the bottles we would actually put in your hand.

How rosé is made, in one paragraph

Rosé is red grapes handled gently. The juice of nearly every red grape is clear; the colour lives in the skins. Leave the juice on the skins for a few hours instead of a few weeks and you get pink instead of red, and you get the red-fruit flavour without the tannin that makes red wine grippy. A pale rosé usually means a short time on skins and a cooler place; a deep pink one usually means longer, warmer, or a deliberately fruitier style. That is a hint, not a rule.

What actually decides whether the bottle is sweet is the winemaker stopping fermentation early or not. We go through that properly in is rosé sweet or dry and in dry versus sweet wine.

Provence: the dry benchmark

If somebody says "rosé" and means the pale, dry, slightly savoury kind, they mean Provence. The kosher shelf here is unusually good.

Whispering Angel Côtes de Provence Rosé at thirty dollars is the bottle that made this category famous, and the kosher run is the same wine. It is dry, pale, and built for a long lunch. It is also the most looked-at rosé on this site by a wide margin.

Chateau Maime Côtes de Provence Rosé at forty and Chateau Minuty M de Rosé at sixty are the ones to reach for when you want to go further into the style. Minuty in particular is a serious estate and the wine is more textured than the price-alike bottles around it.

Cheaper but honestly Provençal: Cap Riviera South Rose at twenty and Domaine de L'Allamande Côtes de Provence Rose at nineteen. J. de Villebois Sancerre Rosé at thirty is not Provence at all — it is Pinot Noir from the Loire — and it is the crispest, most mineral rosé we carry.

Israel: rosé with more fruit and more sun

Israeli rosé is generally a little deeper in colour and rounder in the mouth than Provence, without being sweet. If Provence rosé strikes you as too austere, start here.

Dalton Estate Rosé at twenty two is the everyday choice and it never disappoints. Recanati Rosé at nineteen and Tabor Rosé at nineteen sit alongside it.

A step up: Netofa Latour Rosado at twenty seven, made in a Mediterranean idiom that suits pink wine perfectly, and Or Haganuz Amuka Rosé at twenty three. Carmel Appellation Rosé at twenty two is the reliable one from the country's oldest house.

At the top: Domaine du Castel Rosé at thirty seven and Flam Rosé at thirty five are both made with the same care as the estates' reds, and both are proper dinner wines rather than aperitifs. Bat Shlomo Rose at thirty seven and Tulip Rose at twenty five are the other two worth knowing. There is more on the growing areas behind all of these in our Israeli wine regions guide.

The American and Spanish side

Covenant Red C Rose at thirty three is Californian in build — a bit more weight, a bit more body. Hajdu Rose at thirty five comes from the same world and is the most characterful of the group.

Pacifica Rose at twenty three is the easy-drinking Pacific Northwest version, and Capçanes Peraj Petita Rosé at twenty is Spanish, made from Garnacha, and the best-value serious rosé on the shelf.

Everyday bottles under twenty

Baron Herzog Rosé at fifteen and Herzog Lineage Rose at twenty are the two that move fastest, and both are mevushal, which matters if the bottle is being opened at a simcha or handled by a caterer. Our Herzog guide covers how the ranges fit together.

Contessa Annalisa Collection Rose at eighteen is one of the most viewed bottles we carry and a genuinely good Italian pink at the price. Borgo Reale Rose at nineteen and Chateau Josephine Rose at thirteen are the other two we sell by the case.

Mademoiselle Rose at thirty is worth calling out separately, because people come looking for it by name.

Sparkling pink

Rosé and bubbles are a natural fit, and this is where a lot of people should be looking for a simcha table.

Bartenura Sparkling Rosé at seventeen is the crowd-pleaser: light, off-dry, and impossible to dislike. The half bottle at twelve is useful when you want one glass each.

Yarden Brut Rosé at sixty five is the serious Israeli sparkler, made by the traditional method and bone dry. Drappier Brut Rosé Champagne at seventy is real Champagne and drinks like it. Herzog Selection Rosé Brut at nineteen and Baglietti Brut Rosé at twenty three are the affordable end.

Dalton Pet Nat Rose at thirty two is the odd one out and the most fun: cloudy, lightly fizzy, made the old farmhouse way. If you want the difference between all these styles spelled out, see Champagne, Prosecco and Cava compared.

Sweet pink, on purpose

Not everybody wants dry, and sweet rosé is a real category rather than a mistake.

Gavioli Moscato Rose at seventeen and Armonia Moscato Rose at sixteen are lightly fizzy, low in alcohol and grapey — read our Moscato explainer if that is your corner. GRW Rose Semi-Dry at fifteen sits in between. Baron Herzog White Zinfandel at twelve is the classic American off-dry pink, and Kedem Cream Rosé at eight is frankly sweet and knows it.

Cans, and one thing that is not wine at all

J. Folk Rosé Wine Cans and Bartenura Rosato Sparkling Rosé Cans, both nineteen dollars for four, are the sensible answer for a picnic, a kiddush or anywhere glass is a nuisance. And Bartenura Frosé Freeze Pops at forty for twelve are exactly what they sound like, and they disappear at every summer event we have ever sent them to.

What to eat with rosé

Dry rosé is the most useful food wine in the shop. It has the acidity of a white and enough fruit to stand up to a plate that has meat on it, which makes it the one bottle that works from the fish course to the chicken. Salmon, tuna, grilled vegetables, salatim, schnitzel, anything with lemon or herbs. See wine with fish and wine with chicken for the detail.

Serve it properly cold, colder than white, and do not keep it for years. Rosé is made to be drunk young; a bottle from the most recent vintage will always beat one that has been sitting.

The short answer

Want dry and classic, buy the Whispering Angel. Want dry with more fruit for less money, buy the Dalton Estate. Want something everyone at the table will drink without comment, buy the Bartenura Sparkling. The rest of the kosher rosé range is there when you are ready to wander, and the Israeli sparkling shelf is the natural next stop.