Rosé in magnum

I sometimes forget the wine element of this blog but yesterday I came across such a great bottle I had to share it with you. It's called AIX rosé and comes in a magnum.

Everyone fell on it at the Majestic tasting it was shown at yesterday, not least because it actually tasted good which is more than you can say for a lot of rosé. At £19.99 it's not cheap - but then Provençal rosé rarely is - but has the most delicious crisp wild-strawberry scented fruit.

The only problem I anticipate is how you would chill it unless you've got one of those huge American style fridges or a chest freezer into which you could pop it for 20 minutes or so (but don't for heaven's sake forget it). Certainly it would be hard to find a bucket large enough and if your fridge is like my fridge when I have people round - already chock full of food.

Anyway, if you want some I'd get in quick. When I tweeted about it yesterday, one Majestic branch - in Market Harborough, as it happens - said they'd sold out within 'minutes' of putting the wine on display. Don't know if that's hype or the kind of thing that happens in Market Harborough but you might want to check your local branch has it in before you drive down there. It doesn't appear on the website at the time of writing.

While on the subject of rosé there's a good bargain in the Co-op at the moment which you can read about in my selection of summer drinks in the Guardian today: the Les Crouzes Old Vine Cinsault Rosé. I hadn't expected the piece to come out so soon and it is in fact only £4.19 until Tuesday which makes it even better value.