Rosé is thriving in the Wairarapa and New Zealand, having hitched a ride on the coat tails of pink wine’s global success. Rosé now accounts for about 30% of French wine sales compared to 16% in 2002. It has surpassed white wine sales in France and some predict it could soon outstrip sales of red wine there – no mean feat in a country renowned for the world’s classic red and white wines.
Here in Martinborough, my tasting table is groaning under the weight of new rosé releases from around the country, so it only seems fair to share a handful of top local recommendations with you – along with a few tangible bits of hopefully helpful information. Rosé does come in a wide range of colours from extremely pale with the merest hint of pink through to deeply coloured, unabashed light red wines, which are particularly popular in places such as Spain and southern Italy where they are known as rosado or rosato, served lightly chilled and are full of flavour. Which leads us to the colour. It’s an extremely common misconception that the paler the rosé is in colour, the drier it is in taste. It’s so common in fact that many winemakers are now intentionally producing wines that are pale in colour and dry because it’s easier than trying to explain that colour and dryness are completely unrelated in a technical winemaking sense.
Colour comes from skin contact. Dryness comes from fermenting all of the natural grape sugars to alcohol. Most rosé made in New Zealand is made from the Pinot Noir grape, as the following fab four wines are.
FOUR EXCELLENT NEW LOCAL ROSÉS
2025 Paddy Borthwick Pinot Rosé Wairarapa RRP $22.99
Gladstone is one of the Wairarapa’s often forgotten secrets and this wine highlights the high quality of excellent wines made there. Dry, crisp, light bodied and full of the taste of red berries and summer fruit, it has a succulent watermelon taste. Delicious.
2025 Dublin Street Martinborough Rosé RRP $32
This excellent dry rosé is made from hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes grown on the four hectare Dublin Street Vineyard. It is pale in colour and dry with refreshing flavours of raspberries, cranberries and fresh floral aromas make every sip enticing.
2025 Nga Waka Martinborough Rosé RRP $25
The first rosé from Nga Waka that is made entirely by the winery’s second ever winemaker – the highly experienced Paul Mason, who has fermented this wine to full dryness.
Its delicate red fruit and floral aromas are held in check with crisp acidity from its cool climate origins – the grapes were grown on the winery’s Pirinoa Block. Minimal skin contact results in a light pink wine.
2024 Palliser Estate Rosé RRP $34
Light pink and dry with summer berry flavours and lush red fruit aromas, a medium body and lingering finish.
