Pink is not usually a colour - even when it comes to wine - that occupies much of my mind, so it surprised me that so many wine 'things' pink have been a part of my life recently.There I was glancing at emails as they popped into my in box with one eye while frantically working on a piece of text, when I noticed baby pink had been used to highlight several words in one.

Because I'd recently been involved in the 'Pink Ribbon/Comrades' campaign highlighting awareness of breast cancer, my first impression without even opening the email was 'how kind, what a good idea'. I'd automatically assumed that whatever this event was, it had decided to do something to draw attention to the cause. So, I gave the email a cursory second glance to determine exactly what they were doing, and discovered I'd been mistaken because no word like 'breast' leapt out at me.

My next thought was still 'what a good idea' because I'd now spotted a few other words which resonated with me, and they were 'pink market', AKA the gay communities. But, without any further words of confirmation travelling from one tired synapse to the other, I gave up and read the email properly ... and still thought 'what a good idea'.

The message was from the winemakers in Bot River announcing the 'Botriviera Spring Weekend'. Scheduled for the 3rd, 4th and 5th of September this is targeting - and here's where I got it wrong - the pink wine buying market. Apparently, participating wine estates will mark their entrances with pink barrels, there will be a pink courtesy bus trundling from venue to venue, and a frothy pink party at the Bot River Hotel. It's enough to tempt me to buy a pink party frock and join in; unfortunately I shall be on deadline. See www.botriverwines.co.za or Face book: Bot River Wines for more.

Then, two evenings ago, I was up a tree with Stitch the Staffie and Luke (it's a tree with broad, low-slung branches, we like climbing up and watching the river) when an ex-client called. He'd been barging in France and had found that his wife, not normally a wine drinker, had enjoyed the pink wines of the Midi. Could I point him in the direction of a few local pink wines that might take her fancy?

And then, coming to the end of an afternoon of Platter tasting yesterday (conflict of interest alert), I contemplated the final wine in the line up I'd prepared for myself. A pink bubbly with a stubborn cork. I push once, I pulled once, I twisted once to no avail. Then, with the decisiveness born of having a rather long to-do list, marched in to the kitchen, grabbed a hefty carving knife and bore both weapon and wine bottle on to the veranda. In a heartbeat I swung into action and, before I could say 'sabrage', frothy pink bubbles poured forth.

OK, all this pink nonsense is just a prelude to writing about the one wine from our new releases tasting that I haven't yet reported back on. It's pink: Kumala Zenith Rosé 2010, retailing at less than R30, and is made by Ben Jordaan from pinotage grapes from Worcester. It delivered a pretty sunset hue, a raspberry nose, a light, fruity finish with just a hint of sweetness on the finish. Well chilled, it would do as a sipper for anyone watching a river, anywhere. We did, however, feel that the fruit could have been a bit brighter and Ingrid Motteux thought that it didn't deliver as much as its stable mates do at a similar price. We scored it 12.5.