PUT a few wine writers of different nationalities together for a wine dinner, and interesting wine-related topics usually surface.

At one such dinner in Italy recently, a Canadian wine writer in his late 40s suddenly leaned over and asked another guest at the table: 'What is your star sign?'

My curiosity aroused, I asked: 'It doesn't have anything to do with wine, does it? Can a person's wine preference be defined by his horoscope sign?'

That turned out to be his theory, especially when he went on to predict the types of wines that he thought the guest would like, based on his Piscean star sign.

Judging the characters of wine drinkers by their preferences has always been a fun practice.

For example, everyone must have heard of the 'macho men love massively-built red wines, and women love sweet wines' cliche.

I have always wondered how those who subscribe to such generalisations place fans of rose wines. I have met men who scorn it ('It's so girlie,' says one macho friend) and those who love it ('It goes well with Chinese food,' says another).

Drinking rose wines is all the rage now, although they have been around for a long time. While the initial roses were drier types, post-World War II saw sweeter-type roses, such as the White Zinfandel from California, which is now regarded as a 'housewife's drink'.

One of the reasons for its new-found fame is the irresistible pink colour, which has captured the hearts of many drinkers.

Just in case you are wondering if such a pretty pink comes from artificial colouring, it does not. There are different ways of achieving the pink.

For one, winemakers sometimes leave the skins of the grapes in the grape juice for a few days, so that the originally colourless juice will turn pink.

There is also the 'bleeding' (or 'saignee') method - where some of the pink juice is taken out halfway during the red wine-making process (before the wine turns red), then made into wine separately. Both these methods are regarded as more sophisticated ways of production, although there's a third method that is usually not encouraged - blending red and white wine.

As for what type of personalities fit the rose sipping profile, the Canadian wine writer had a suggestion.

'You are a Gemini?' he asked. 'Then you must love roses.'

Taste test

I discovered this rose (known as 'rosado' in Spanish), produced by one of Spain's most famous and historical wineries using the saignee method, two years ago. This wine has good weight, with raspberries and cherry stone fruit on the palate. Serve slightly chilled.

Pair with

Salami or a cheese platter.

Available at

Ponti Wine Cellars (176 Orchard Road , #04-02 Centrepoint, Tel: 6733-0369.)

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