Male drinkers drive Aussie rosé boom

Men have been credited with driving sales of rosé wine in Australia.

According to liquor industry sales date the rosé category has grown nationally by more than 65% in value and more than 53% in volume in the past year.

While the "brosé" trend - "bros" drinking rosé became viral hashtag on Instagram a few years back in the US - has been grabbing headlines overseas it's only been this year that experts have noticed its popularity picking up with antipodean males.  

Winemaker Sue Bell has told ABC News: "The UK & US have seen huge growth among men, while they've known about it in the South of France for years."

Bell was a wine judge at the Royal Hobart Wine Show says the rise of rosé  style wines is mirrored in the number of entries in that class this year.

At last year's show there were only seven entries for rosé wines, this year it's jumped to around 70 entries.

"Five years ago we were wondering about the relevance of having a rosé class," Bell admits. 

Now it's become "a fun and high quality class".

"People have woken up to the fact that rosé suits Australia," she added. "Climactically, we should be drinking more rosé." 

Duane Roy, from Glandore Estate Wines, recently told News Corp: "“Rosé is in now — all the labels are more neutral tones rather than brighter colours that are usually made to attract female customers.

“We certainly see a change now from five or six years ago. These days men are more likely to try rosé when we sell it at the cellar door.

"Just this year we’ll be doubling our production of rosé.”

A move to more full-bodied styles is also attracting male drinkers.

Matthew Williams, founder of food and wine festival Vino Paradiso said: “I think in the past rosé has had a taboo representation with the sweet flavours and old school Aussie blokes saw it as a bit of a stretch from say their pilsners or lagers.

“But rosé itself has dramatically changed over the past few years. They’ve become drier and more refreshing and now have different aromas and tastes.”

Sydney gets first rosé bar

Two blokes - Ronnie Fan and Jerome Dubois - are behind Rosé Royale, the permanent dedicated rosé bar in Potts Point, Sydney.

Dubois, who only drinks pink wine, came up with the idea and has hand-picked the 26 rosé wines on the list. There's also a cocktail list that revolves around rosé. The bar even sells rosé soft serve.

“A lot of places you go have 10 red wines or 10 white wines, and only one or two rosés on the menu. We do the complete opposite and have 30 rosés and 20 of them we sell by the glass,” Fan told Broadsheet.

Pictured (main): Instagram user dewey1979 used the #brosé hastag on this shot at Broken Earth Winery.