So, the other day a bottle of Mateus Rosé showed up.
Now before the wine geek in you gets all dismissive, consider this: everyone took their first sip of wine somewhere. And chances are it was a big name like Mateus. In fact more people report Mateus as their first wine encounter than with any other brand.
Mateus Rosé was dreamed up in 1942, by Portuguese winery giant Sogrape. For founder Fernando van Zeller Guedes, it was a stroke of genius. The wine is made with white wine techniques but using red grapes, with no skin contact. The result is an easy going, quaffer. And it’s pretty in pink, to boot.
In an era when wine snobbery was rampant, Mateus introduced wine to intimidated consumers. Sure it was commercial but people liked it. By the late 1980s the Mateus brand accounted for nearly 40 percent of Portugal’s table wine exports. (The Hired Belly’s parents even once mailed him a miniature bottle of Mateus in a boarding school care package. A discreet reminder of home life, back in the day …)
In terms of brand success, Mateus Rosé rates right up there with Campbell’s soup. (But it’s a whole lot tastier.) Widely distributed around the world, I’m guessing the only other brand that even comes close is Yellow Tail.
The Mateus Rosé Makeover
Mateus Rosé, now clear, not green and in screw cap
Every decade or so, the designer-marketers have their way with stalwarts—such as Mateus. A makeover ensues. Some are radical. Others not so much. A shock to traditionalists at the time, since 2016 the bottle has been clear, not green. This time the neck has grown (even longer than the last time). And in a ‘what goes around comes around’ kind of way, ‘Rosé’ is back on the front label. (Last time around they dropped it.) Oh, and it’s now very definitely a screw cap.
That’s a good thing. Years ago I blithely ignored the warning that used to be on the back label— “Not to be opened with gas or air pumps.” I jabbed in one of those fancy injectors. And most efficiently exploded the bottle—and wine—all over a girlfriend’s kitchen.
So … what’s inside?
Even though the Mateus rosé bottle may have changed, the content is pretty much the same. Maybe they’ve even dropped the sweetness a little. That’s never a bad thing—although they could probably do it even more. The current model sports 15 g/l, which is slightly less sweet than a lot of commercial drops. It’s fruity and red berried up front, still gently effervescent, and strawberry toned. Overall, it’s light, refreshing and almost tannin free, the acidity’s just about there—and it’s pretty food friendly. In fact, we enjoyed it with a wide range of flavours from a cheese tray, spicy Moroccan hummus and slices of D Original Sausage garlic coil.
Mateus Rosé redux: Ready to wean a whole new generation off Pepsi… and maybe even Apothic.
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Call me old fashioned… But I still kind of like the old bottle …
“I get juiced on Mateus and just hang loose.” — Elton John, ‘Social Disease’, 1973
—via Wikipedia
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