One of our favourite things about Rosé season is that it’s always bright, colourful and fabulous. This year, however, the mood is very different. With the global pandemic, nationwide lockdown and pressure on the wine industry, it’s been difficult for wine lovers to enjoy and celebrate this gorgeous pink wine.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean you should write this day off, especially not while Baleia is celebrating South African wine. This month, we are raising our glasses in honour of Baleia’s Deborah Rosé.

What’s our secret to creating the perfect Rosé?

“We pick the red wine grapes at a white wine potential alcohol level and press the grapes very gently so that we don’t extract too much colour or tannin. We don’t want the Rosé to be bitter. To get that iconic pink hue of the Deborah, we strive to separate the juice from the skins as fast as possible. That’s the definition of our skin contact period,” says Gunter Schultz, the winemaker behind Baleia’s incredibly delicious and vibrant wines.

“I treat the Rosé as if it was a white wine. A lot of people blend whites and reds together to make Rosé, but ours is much more delicate in style and with more flavour,” Gunter explains further.

What can you expect from the Deborah Rosé?

With a bouquet of watermelon and candy floss, every sip reminds us of warmer days by the pool. Enjoy the lingering flavours of strawberry cheesecake while the light spice settles on your palate. You can practically taste the promise of summer in our double gold award-winning wine.

Where does a lot of the unique flavour come from?

The unique flavour in our Rosé comes from the exclusive location of our vineyards, a stone’s throw away from St Sebastian Bay, known as the whale nursery of South Africa, on the cape south coast. The delicate sensation of minerality in all of our food-friendly wines is an expression of the natural salts present in our soils and prepares the palate beautifully.

Which brings us to the best thing about any Rosé, and particularly our Deborah, which is that it tastes amazing on its own or when paired with a delicious meal. If you’re going to enjoy a glass with a meal, we’d recommend trying flavours of the Far East. No matter how you enjoy it, you can never go wrong with a good Rosé.

*This forms part of Wines of South Africa’s ‘Spectacular South Africa’ campaign.