It's that time of year again when the days are long and we get occasional glimpses of sunshine. For me that represents several changes in my drinking habits - in warm weather I find I tend to drink more white wines than reds, only when it's warm would I even think of ordering a Campari and soda or a Pastis with ice. For me these are ineluctably summer drinks. But there's another that's so often overlooked, a wine that often represents terrific value for money simply because the demand for it isn't as high as for reds and whites. I'm talking about rose wine, of course.

I have several women friends who simply will not drink red wine. That's a shame, since at a stroke some of the world's best wines are taken out of the equation and never get tasted. But there may be a good reason why some people avoid reds, and it's not just a personal predilection or prejudice. Red wines take their colour from the skins of the grapes, so you can't make a red wine from white grapes, but you can make a white wine from red grapes if you keep the grape juice away from the red skins - much Champagne is made from the red Pinot Noir grape.

Apart from the red colour, the skins of red grapes also impart something else to the grape juice: tannin. This is the same substance that tanneries use to tan animal hides and make leather. You can find in significant quantities in oak bark as well, and its use is to act as a preservative. It does that in red wine, it preserves it, which is why red wines can age for much longer than white wines. But when a wine is young the tannins can manifest themselves as a bitter, astringent taste. They mellow as a wine ages and matures, they can soften when a wine is opened well in advance or is decanted, but tannin will always be present in red wines. It's more than possible that some people are more sensitive to its presence than others and some people may even have a mild allergy to it, which may explain their aversion to red wines.

This can give roses a place in our wine racks. They are shades of pink simply because they have had little contact with the skins and therefore are light not just in colour, but also in tannins. As such, they may well be acceptable to people who only drink white wines, as well as making a pleasant summery change.

Wine of the Week

La Source de Vignelaure Rose, 2003

I've written about Chateau Vignelaure before, it's a fine property not far from Aix-en-Provence owned by Irishman David O'Brien and his wife, Catherine. His reds are increasingly gaining a reputation for high quality, but Vignelaure's rose is a wine to respect. It's won many prizes over the years, and the 2003 vintage maintains the standard. Dry in finish, but with plenty of fruit it's a perfect summer wine for sipping well-chilled in the sun or putting into a picnic box.

Available O'Brien's Off Licenses, on special offer at €9.95