Have you dared to try Roseorange from Aldi?
The hybrid rosé-orange wine in the tall bottle caused quite the commotion on social media when it launched. And in doing so, it created a new category of wines in its wake, made by blending red and white grapes together.
I’m dubbing it ‘midway wine’, but you can call it ‘no-mans-land wine’, ‘in-between wine’ or whatever you like, really. Because there’s no official name for this particular style of wine, and it doesn’t fit into any of the established white, red, rosé or orange wine categories.
But, if you’re adventurous enough to give it a go, it’s the perfect wine to bridge the gap between late summer and the cusp of autumn.
So, what is this ill-fitting wine? The ‘midway wine’ looks either like a dark rosé or a light-coloured red wine, whichever way you want to look at it. It’s vaguely tied to an ancient winemaking style called ‘clarete’ (in Spanish), ‘clairet’ (from France) or ‘palhete’ (in Portuguese). In Spain and Portugal, this is a darker style of rosé made from fermenting white and red grapes together in Spain, skins and all, as you’d do to make a red wine.
This winemaking method is the opposite of lightly-coloured rosé from Provence, which is made by instantly separating the grape juice from the skins to let in as little colour as possible in to the wine. And that’s why the style of the Clarete wine is slightly exotic with a bit of red-wine-like texture but also, refreshingly zesty. It is a slam dunk for lovers of rosé and light, chillable, Beaujolais-style red wine.
In fact, Clarete could well have been the original pink wine, long before the term ‘rosé’ came on the scene. While its exact origins aren’t known, it’s thought that Clarete was a peasant wine made in local Spanish and French wineries as far back as 1,000 years ago. Cut to the 1980s, the punchy demand for red wine saw white grapes grubbed up in parts of Spain and France and replaced with red grapes.
And get this, there’s an area around the region of Rioja, in the northeast of Spain known as ‘Clareteland’. Every June they celebrate a ‘clarete battle’, where they spray one other with gallons of the stuff.
Confusingly, Clairet, which reads too similarly to Claret for comfort, is a dark red rosé from Bordeaux. This is the same idea as Clarete, but specifically made from red grapes left on their skins for longer than a typical rosé, but shorter than a red. The result is a beautifully raspberry-tinted wine with a super fruity style.
Trouble is, because we’re all still obsessed with the pastel pink wines of Provence, these darker examples are much harder to find. I found a Clairet for under a tenner though, and tasted it alongside a darker style rosé from Spain and an orange wine from France to show the difference.
Rosé
Waitrose Ripe and Juicy Spanish Rosé, £5.75, Waitrose
This has to be my wine of the week, and if I’m honest, I never thought of Waitrose as a destination for budget wines. And yet, here we are. I still can’t quite get over the quality-to-price disparity with this Spanish rosé, which should genuinely cost a few quid more. But shh! It leaps out of the glass into your nostrils with punchy apricot sherbet notes, with a scrumptious, pithy, blood orange and nectarine juiciness on the palate and a zesty pomegranate jewel finish. Go forth and multibuy!
Orange
Côte Mas Orange Vin de France, £10, Waitrose
If you’re hesitant about orange wine, then give this one a whirl. Trust me. It’s made by Paul Mas, who is a dab hand of knowing what we want before we know it ourselves. It gives spiced marmalade on the nose with a dab of elderflower, taking you by the tongue to the juiciest palate of clove-studded oranges, cinnamon, white peach and autumn spices. It’s got some texture, so it’s cracking with a pork roast and crispy crackling.
Midway Wine
Château Thieuley ‘Le Petit Courselle’ Bordeaux Clairet, £9.25, The Wine Society
Now, here’s a proper Clairet; carmine red in colour, slap bang in-between a red and a rosé in flavour. It’s a blend of 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and I can’t tell you how perfect this wine is for autumn, and beyond. Take a sniff and you’ve basically just opened a pot of Bonne Maman raspberry conserve, on the palate it’s beautifully textured with raspberry seed, blueberries and hedgerow fruit. I sipped this straight from the fridge, and so should you. Like, pronto.
Roseorange, France, £9.99, Aldi
The rosé-orange wine hybrid wine that really kick started the ‘midway wine’ category. A blend of red grapes (for the rosé part) Cinsault and Grenache, and white grapes Grenache Gris, Macabeo and Vermentino (for the orange part), which are then blended together. The result is a juicy wine with textured flavours of quince, orange pith and Mirabelle plum skin, which is a good place to start if you’re kicking off your in-between wine journey.
