Wine Box: Coming up rosé

We all long for a wonderful summer; we seldom get one. Our resolve is, however, undimmed. We are a metropolitan breed of closet bucolic bumpkins prepared to ignore gale warnings, motorway roadworks and barbed-wire fences to gain that one-off summertime Holy Grail - the perfect picnic.

It's Saturday morning, you've heard the weatherman swear the sun will shine, pinpointed a venue on the map, and packed enough sandwiches to feed a small Third World nation. But what's best to drink? What about ros?? It's the one wine many wine lovers regularly eschew for reasons I cannot fully fathom.

It's basically a white wine made from red grapes and given a little colour and flavour by being left a short time with the skins. And there are plenty of good-value, easy-drinking ros?s to be found beyond the realms of Anjou and fizzy Portuguese stuff. Just make sure you keep them cold - rucksacks lined with bin liners full of ice and cold bags crammed full of those funny blue frozen blocks. Here's a selection to pack on your picnic.

Stamp of approval. More ripe and intense than many ros?s is Hardy's Stamp Grenache/Shiraz 1999 (Safeway, £4.79). This South East Australian is a confident wine - very Oz.

Fill your boot. If you plan a heavy-drinking picnic, Agramont Cabernet Sauvignon Rosado 1998 (right, Tesco, £4.29) is a terrific-value Spanish ros? with light tannins and good fruit which boxes well above its weight.

Also, Tesco's Seriously Fruity Ros? (£4.99) is, er, seriously fruity. For a real cheapie, Sainsbury's Romanian Merlot Ros?, Recas (£2.99) is more than reasonable - particularly when introduced into the proceedings as the ninth bottle. You will feel no pain by this stage.

Burgundy balance. Add a little elegance to your picnic with delicate, well-balanced Ch?teau de Marsannay Ros? 1998 (Nicolas, £9.99). Expensive, maybe, but you won't believe ros?s can really taste this good.

OTT stuff. You'll need to flash some cash to fund the balance and subtleness of Domaines Ott 'Coeur de Grain' 1998 (www.winescape.co.uk, £18.99). But this chemical-free C?tes de Provence traditional vintage is special. A very light pressing only releases the richest element of the grapes - the coeur de grain - which is then kept in oak casks. This gives an intense depth of flavour and a concise finish. A connoisseur's classic.