Drinkers ditch alcopops for rose wine

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - Tired of swigging alcopops, fed up with the high calories of beer and the high alcohol content of spirits, drinkers around the world are fuelling a boom in rosé wine.

Experts say young British women are leading the trend.

"The girls who were drinking Bacardi Breezer and Smirnoff Ice have matured," said Paul Waller, who works for Carlsberg UK, which buys wine and sells it on to pubs and restaurants.

"People are trying different things. Consumers have got more sophisticated," he said.

Rosé, a light, pinkish colored table wine generally made from red grapes whose skins are removed before the process of fermentation begins, has always been popular in southern France, where many of the best varieties are made.

It has often had an image problem elsewhere but Waller said demand for rosé has risen 30-40 percent in Britain in the last couple of years.

And the boom is not limited to Britain.

Cary Kurz is a salesman for the South African vineyard Distell for North America and has noticed an increase in demand for rosé in the United States and Canada.

"Generally there is a swing towards wine away from beer and spirits," he said.

"Maybe wine is consumed as a healthier product to consumer, lower in alcohol content than spirits and lower in carbohydrates than beer."

According to a study commissioned for the Vinexpo wine fair, rosé will nearly double as a proportion of total wine consumption from 3.64 percent between 2001 and 2005 to 6.68 percent between 2005 and 2010.

That is much faster growth than for red wine, which accounts for around 50 percent of all wine consumption, and for white wine consumption which is expected to stagnate.

Serge Dombierer works for the Chateau de Mauvanne vineyard in the Provence region of southern France.

His vineyard has doubled its production of rosé in the last eight years and it now accounts for 60 percent of all the wine they produce.

He says rosé has an advantage over red or white wines because it can be drunk at any time during the day whereas red is more of an evening drink and white is more for the day.

Its light and fruity taste also mean it is a good replacement for the traditional French aperitif, the pre-dinner drink that is common all over France and can often be a spirit or a fortified wine.

"You can drink less and less in France because of police controls. With spirits you can only have a glass, but with rosé you can have three and you are still okay," he said.