I was eating dinner with several wine writers from around the country, and the unanimous choice for the first bottle of wine was a dry rosé from Spain.

The second bottle was a dry rosé from Napa. And the third... well, never mind.

Not long before that I’d dropped by a summer afternoon party, with a couple of bottles of Sonoma County dry rosés. As soon as they were opened they vanished, and a couple of people were grousing because they hadn’t gotten a glass, even though there was an abundant supply of interesting reds and whites.

 “I’m not surprised,” said Dan Dawson, owner of Back Room Wines in Napa. “Wine-savvy people right now are fascinated with rosés. The market that’s drinking rosé these days are the people who know their wines.”

Dawson had just held a tasting a variety of rosés, from California and France, and as a result his supply was nearly depleted. He was expecting new shipments from distributors who were, in turn, waiting for shipments.

Rosés are that hot these days, Dawson said.

Clearly the days are gone when a bottle of pink wine rated about a high as a six-pack of wine coolers, when wary wine drinkers steered clear of pink, fearing they’d get a mouthful of sweet stuff reminiscent of the ubiquitous white zinfandel.

“I’ve only gotten serious about dry rosé wines in the last couple of years — with the exception of sparkling rosés which I’ve enjoyed for years,” said Ronn Wiegand, a master of wine and master sommelier who publishes a wine newsletter for restaurants. Wiegand recently hosted a class devoted to tasting dry rosé wines through Napa Valley College, and he shared one of his latest newsletters in which he named dry rosés as “a category on the move.”

In restaurants, he wrote, “we estimate that sales volume of dry rosés increased by more than 50 percent in 2006, an extraordinary increase for a category that, until roughly 1995, had nearly disappeared from the U.S on-premise market.”

According to Wiegand’s notes, “in terms of total volume, dry rosé is still a minor wine category in the U.S, accounting for approximately 1 percent of the total market. Yet, it is showing unusual strength and resiliency, and appears to be well on its way to becoming something of a wine trendsetter.”

At Wiegand’s tasting, “Rosés: The Best of the Best,” he poured 15 dry rosé wines, from Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Argentina and California. Pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah,  malbec, sangiovese, garnacha — all kinds of the varietals and blends were represented. This was just a sample of the dry rosés that are being produced and consumed these days. The third annual Pink Out!, a tasting of rosé wines in San Francisco sponsored by the Rosé Avengers and Producers last spring, drew capacity crowds and more than 50 producers from around the world.

Clearly, as more and more winemakers are producing quality dry rosés, consumers are willing to give it a try.

What’s behind the growing interest in things pink? For one thing, Wiegand said, there’s younger generation of wine drinkers who don’t remember Lancers and don’t associate rosés with “sickly sweet stuff.” 

“They are arriving without color prejudice” Wiegand said. They’re also looking for value, and most dry rosés are under $20 a bottle. At Wiegand’s tasting, for example, with the exception of the $60 Brut Rosé from Bellavista in Italy, the wines were around $20 and under. One of the biggest hits was the Beneserre 2006 Rosato, made from sangiovese and merlot. “It’s a stunning wine,” Wiegand said, “and it’s $14.”

Despite skepticism toward pink wines, many who’ve tasted the prestigious rosé Champagnes are also willing to give a still dry rosé a taste, Wiegand noted.

“(Rosé) is the most versatile of all wines,” said Jeff Morgan, who, along with Daniel Moore owns Solo Rosa, the first California winery founded on rosé wines.

Morgan traces his appreciation for rosé back to the six months he spent in Provence, where he learned to love the bone-dry rosés that pair so well with Mediterranean dishes rich with seafood, garlic and olive oil.

When Morgan and Moore made 1,000 cases of rosé in 2001, Morgan said, “People thought we were out of our minds. They asked me, ‘Who’s going to drink icky pink stuff?’”

Dry rosés are being made from such range of varietals. To attempt to write about “rosé” these days is a little like writing about red or whites wines all in one group, Morgan said. There is, Morgan noted, no simple, one-size fits all descriptor. That being said, “Rosé drinks a little like a red wine and a little like a white wine. But it pairs so brilliantly with so many foods.” 

Morgan advocates rosés as a year-round drink, a good pairing for Thanksgiving feasts, and a perfect color for Valentine lovers, but for many, their refreshing and often lighter nature make them the perfect warm-weather wine.

Most rosés are “best within months of being released” according to Wiegand.

“They’re fun,” Wiegand said, “and on a hot summer day like today, (rosé) is terrific.”

Right now most of the dry rosés are being made in small amounts by the saignée (bleeding off) method, although purists like Rob Crane of Crane Brothers believe the best quality rosés are “dedicated” — made with grapes harvested for a rosé rather than a red. Crane Brothers this year released 42 cases of a highly-praised Eye of the Crane syrah rosé,  made from a block of their syrah grapes that is reserved for rosé. Crane said they harvested these grapes earlier “to retain the high natural acidity and lower alcohol needed to create a true rosé.”

Wiegand, however, said the proof of the wine-making method is in the tasting, and until “we have many cases more examples” of saignée versus dedicated, he’s going to reserve judgment. “If the wine quality is good, I don’t care how it’s produced,” Wiegand said. “I don’t care of they run over the grapes in the field with tractors.”

He predicts there will be many more examples of high quality dry rosés forthcoming. “It’s only a matter of time. (Dry rosé) is going  to take a huge leap in the next three years,” he said.