Confident that summer will arrive, MIKE TIPPING selects some rosés for a sunny day in this week’s Tippings Tipples.

My evening meal was great tonight. I’ve become addicted to salmon, in a garlic and rosemary marinade.

It is available from the fish counter at that posh supermarket, up the road from the office.

Also taking a lead role, on the plate, was some locally grown asparagus, which was as fresh as it comes. There were new potatoes too, just out of the soil, which tasted earthy in the same way as oysters taste of the sea. To make things even better the sun was shining also.

The icing on the cake, metaphorically you understand, came straight out of the fridge: a bottle of rosé. You could argue that a Provençal pink would be the ideal wine for the job but I fancied something with a bit more up front.

Handily, I have tasted a whole raft of pinks recently, with a view that there is always a danger that we might have summer this year.

Try the following with salmon, or as a sunny day sipper in the garden. All three are quite gutsy, to the extent that even the red-only drinkers will like them.

From Oz there is Grant Burge gb11 Rosé 2011 which is just off-dry, the hint of sweetness therein is a good foil for spicy foods. Creamy in the mouth, it is has flavours of cherry, raspberry and rosehip, with contrasting peppery notes and a refreshing lift of acidity.

Tempranillo, the Rioja grape with its inherent red fruit character, lends itself to pink production. Cune Rosado 2011 is a decent example. Dry and crisp, it oozes strawberry and raspberry, with some floral and spicy goings on too.

Then there is a terrific pink from one of my favourite Chilean producers, Montes. Made with syrah from the country’s Colchagua Valley, Montes Cherub Rosé of Syrah 2010 not only tastes great but the bottle looks good too. The label is designed by British illustrator, Ralph Steadman.

Crunchy and dry, it suggests cherry, strawberry and rose petal flavours, with black pepper and herbal notes. It has some tannin too, giving the wine a little structure.

Grant Burge gb11 Rosé 2011, £8.50, at Nidderdale Fine Wines 17/20.

Cune Rosado 2011, Rioja, £8.99, at Majestic 17/20.

Montes Cherub Rosé of Syrah 2010, £10, from tesco.com 18/20.