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It’s not just a girly drink – rosé wines offer complexity and substance, and it’s often worth spending a bit more on them, writes JOHN WILSON

ROSÉ WINES ARE never taken seriously by most wine drinkers, and in a way they are right. Rosés are all about enjoyment, pure and simple. They need the right time, the right place and the right people. And the weather, too. Rosé means sun, and as we don’t get too much of that in this country, sales traditionally have been tiny. However, there is nothing nicer than a bottle of chilled rosé when the weather is right. With a gang of old friends, I recently enjoyed generous amounts of the Château Haut-Rian rosé listed below with an excellent dinner in Over The Moon restaurant in Skibbereen, Co Cork. Life does not get much better.