WINE drinkers seem to be looking at the future through rose-tinted spectacles, if the inexorable rise in the popularity of pink wine is anything to go by.

Never mind the recession, just pop a bottle of fruity rosé and all will be well. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that rosé can’t really be anything other than unpretentious and easy to drink. And on a hot summer’s day a nicely chilled bottle of rosé certainly slips down effortlessly.

White and red wines are still far ahead in sheer volume the UK. But rosé will rise by an estimated 47 per cent to 220 million bottles by 2012, according to research company International Wine and Spirit Record.

For a perfect rosé for summer, Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato 2009 (£5.99 for a 37.5cl bottle, see www.libertywine.co.uk) is an Australian oddity that recalls Lambrusco but has far more to it than that. It is naturally effervescent, bottled under a crown cap, like a beer, and is a wonderfully fresh, frothy mouthful, with delicious clean, flowery and grapey aromas. And at a mere 5.5 per cent alcohol there’s no threat of it bringing on a headache.

Some rosés go very well with food. To go with a summery salad Louis Jadot Beaujolais 2007 rose is 100 per cent Gamay, light and crisp with restrained redcurrant fruit (£8.99 at Waitrose).

Rioja Cune Rosada 2008 (£7.49 at Majestic) is made from Tempranillo and Garnacha grapes and is a deep pink, full flavoured wine with rich, sweet cherry and strawberry fruit.