With the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence in high gear and the London Olympics approaching fever pitch, one thing for sure on the lips of many is that Jamaica is hot,hot, hot .... in more ways than one.

It is with great pleasure that I notice a number of events are now including Rosé Wines on their menus. At one recent event where Creative Media and Entertainment (CME) launched their Wealth Magazine Special Edition celebrating Jamaica 50, their sponsor Caribbean Producers of Jamaica Limited poured only rosé. Rosé wines were once the underdogs of the wine world, but over the last few years they have been experiencing double-digit sales growth year-over-year and as the products improve in quality.

What's in a name — Rosé or Blush

A true rosé is often off-dry to dry in nature and displays appropriate fresh fruit flavours that lean toward the strawberry and raspberry side of the fruit spectrum. They can be still or they can be sparkling; the good ones will not disappoint.

Blush can simply be described as another name for the sweet American version of rosé wines. While rosé wines were once very popular with American wine lovers, the winemakers in California made their product a little sweeter, which made them a huge hit among novice wine drinkers in the 1980s. Some argue that the name 'blush' was created for marketing purposes in order to differentiate them from the dry French Rosé wines which they outsold in short order back then. The most popular of these blush wines is White Zinfandel.

New wine drinkers both here and abroad typically prefer sweeter types of wine, while seasoned drinkers go for the traditional rosé dry style.

Rosé around the world

Quaffable rosé wines are made in most of the wine-producing regions of the world, but the most celebrated one are from Provence, France, whose rosé wines are typically dry, light-bodied and refreshing. Other rosé-producing regions of note in Europe include Languedoc and Rhone Valley in France, and some regions in Italy and Spain where it's called rosado.

For the rest of the summer, while you enjoy the wide range of celebrations, please try rosé wines instead of your regular white or red.

Chris Reckord - Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter: @DeVineWines @Reckord