At first blush, crisp rosé wines have many charms

(Suzanne kreiter/globe staff)

It's hard to say goodbye to old friends. This year, while putting together our pick of the pink at $12 and under, it was obvious that many old standbys weren't going to make the cut. It isn't that the winemakers have forgotten how to make beautifully crisp, bone-dry, earthy rosés in places like Italy, Spain, and the south of France. It's just that prices have gone up.

It would be easy to lay the blame for this at the feet of that pesky, high-flying euro, but we're not so sure that tells the whole story. The truth is that Americans have rediscovered the roseate charms of authentic pink wine after decades of being led badly astray by cloyingly sweet, mass-produced fakes. This has surely allowed the Europeans to be more aggressive with their pricing than they otherwise might be. It's official: Rosé has moved upmarket.

If the ascent has been long and slow here, it's partly due to its durable image as the drink of the disadvantaged - a notion that was mature even in antiquity. In one of the earliest extant farming manuals, the elder Cato taught Roman planters how to vinify a cheap, thin, low-alcohol wine suitable for slaking the thirst of slaves. The recipe involved adding water to winepress residue (skins, pips, stems, etc.) and re-fermenting. The extent to which the result resembled real wine depended on how greedily the grapes had been wrung out in the first place. It would surely have been a pale, insipid thing at best.

The tradition lived on as wine emerged as an important cash crop in Europe. Vintners learned that wine could be made a bit richer, higher in alcohol, and more saleable if very early in the fermentation they bled off some of the excess juice, concentrating what remained in the vat. The stuff drawn off lacked the color and strength of red wine, but had a fruity appeal all its own. Landowners provided it to field hands and weren't above drinking it themselves. Later, it became a favored sip in working-class bars and cafes.

Today, you can spend serious money on elite rosés from properties like Domaine Tempier or Chateau de Pibarnon. Both are situated deep in the French south, where the Roman presence is still palpable and ordering up a glass of something pink has never been considered less than manly.

Any rosé that hopes to find a place at your table needs to be, at the very least, crisp, refreshing, and persistently appetizing, so look especially carefully for something with a good balance of fruit and acidity. When you land something you love, buy plenty. You and the farmhands will be drinking it all summer long.

Les Lauzeraies Tavel 2006. We wouldn't call it lush, but there's a softness and generosity here that's very appealing. Some good, steady strawberry fruit and enough acidity to keep things interesting. Around $12. At Magnolia Wine, Watertown, 617-924-6040; Bauer Wine and Spirits, Back Bay, 617-262-0363; Nejaime's Wine Cellars, Lenox, 800-946-3988.

Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rosé 2006. More body and aromatics here; nicely fleshy and firm; fine zip and freshness. A perennial pleaser from this ever-reliable house. Around $12. At Brookline Liquor Mart, Allston, 617-734-7700; Ipswich Bottle Shop, Ipswich, 978-356-2400; Austin Liquors, Shrewsbury, 508-755-8100.

Crios Mendoza 2007. Some welcome minerally aromas; the New World (Argentina) fruit is bright, buxom, and comes at no loss of verve. Crisp, juicy, appetizing. Around $12. At Cambridge Wine & Spirits, Cambridge, 617-864-7171; Best Cellars, Back Bay, 617-266-2900; Foodie's Urban Market, South End, 617-266-9911.

Regaleali IGT Sicilia "Le Rosé" 2006. Round, satisfying, mouth-filling fruit with a garnish of earthy aromas and flavors; a sweetheart. Around $11. At Ball Square Fine Wine & Liquors, Somerville, 617-623-9500; Amherst Wines & Spirits, Amherst, 413-549-0900; Cambridge Wine & Spirits.

Goats Do Roam South Africa Rosé 2006. Some distinctive herbaceousness and a whiff of that seemingly ever-present South Africa game and smoke. Strawberry-sour cherry profile in a somewhat more robust package. Nice. Around $12. At Martignetti Liquors, Brighton, 617-782-3700; Kappy's Liquors, Medford, 781-395-8888; Whole Foods, Hadley, 413-586-9932.

- STEPHEN MEUSE

Stephen Meuse can be reached at onwine@comcast.net.