Your Summer Dream (Mateus Rose)

Member Name: raehippychick

Product:	Mateus Rose
Date:	30/07/07 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and cheerful wine

Disadvantages: Can produce headaches, confusion and poor control of legs and mouth

Ah… the funny rounded bottle that I remember from the 70’s. When the APs (that’s the Aged Parents… funny how they never appreciated that nickname!) had their cheese and wine parties someone would always turn up with a bottle or two of this

This poor old wine has suffered for many years with its dated image, but now it could be making a bit of a comeback… hopefully a more successful one than its ill-fated alcoholic friend Babycham

Recently I’ve noticed a few adverts on the goggle box trying to persuade us that mateus rosé is a cool drink. So being a lover of all things pink and partial to the odd glass (or two) of wine I thought I’d give it a whirl. Well, at the reasonable price of £4.35 a bottle, in Tesco, I couldn’t go too far wrong could I?

I quite like the old fashioned styling of the bottle. Even though the bottle has been redesigned and updated, it still has a styling that takes me back to my youth when people would save these bottles to make into lamps, not something I would have in my house personally but the nostalgic feeling is nice on a warm summer day when the birds are singing, the bees are humming and I have time to lie in the grass and dream… sorry, back to business here!

The worst thing about white or rosé wine is having to wait for it to chill, luckily I bought this after work one evening so come Sunday, our first summery day for ages I took the bottle(s) from the fridge, packed a little picnic and headed to our local green as there was a jazz band playing that afternoon. There is something about jazz and rosé wine that go so well together…

Lying on the fresh green grass with the sun streaming over me, a light wind ruffling my hair and the strains of some good old trad jazz playing I popped the cork and poured a glass. The colour is delightful on a sunny day; not too dark and not to pale, some rosés can look a little insipid and almost vinegary

The bouquet is light, fresh and quite summery with a hint of fruitiness and if you stick your nose in far enough the bubbles will tickle it… something we all ended up doing after a few glasses, when the giggles got to us

The flavour is delicious, a refreshing, slightly sweet fruitiness that is lighter than a red wine and less acidic than many whites and the slight fizziness is a pleasant tickle on the tongue with none of the over bubbliness of many sparkling wines and champagnes. The crispness of this wine and the fact that is of a medium flavour; not too sweet and cloying, nor so dry it puckers your mouth means it is a very good lazy Sunday afternoon drink… the bottles seemed to evaporate in the summer heat at a fairly swift pace, but we all felt mellow and relaxed without going over the edge into staggering drunkenness

Perfect with a summer picnic or for just drinking with friends at 11% it pays to be a little moderate in your consumption as tomorrow morning could find you clutching your head and cursing that stubby bottle

And of course should you choose to recycle your bottles they still make pretty nifty candleholders… much easier to make than table-lamps!

Summary: A nice drinkable Portuguese rosé that is perfect for summer picnics