Quick! What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think of a very pretty glass of pink-colored rosé wine? Call me a mind reader, but I'm guessing that images of fashionable French resorts like St. Tropez, St. Barts, or California's Laguna Beach spring to mind - and of course, rap stars like P. Diddy and Fifty Cent would have it on their gleaming white yachts. If you were dining uptown (or downtown) at one of the fashionable outdoor cafes in Manhattan, you would have a bottle of rosé in a cooler to grace the table.

Now here's the good news: real men drink rosé - or so it appears. Curiously, "real men" needed to be assured it was okay for them to eat quiche a generation ago - at least, that was the message in Bruce Feirstein's book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche in the early eighties, a satire questioning stereotypes about masculinity.

Now P.Diddy...okay, I'm sure everyone can imagine him cracking open a bottle of the popular pink French Domaine Ott on one of his yachts as he slices through the crystal green waters of Sardinia, Italy. Some of us might have a bit more trouble seeing rapper Fifty Cent, with his incredible muscles and tattoos, sipping a rosé wine, but since Fifty Cent is increasingly all about fashion and style, sure, I can see it. Kinda. Sorta.

Clearly, though, some people (read: men) might need more affirmation that sipping rosé is fashionable, cool, and does not imply anything more about their sexuality other than that they have good taste - and it's true. Not only is rosé the cool drink of choice, it pairs well with many appetizers and you can't beat it for looks at a pool party. So what's a thirsty man to do?

Enter Fat Bastard rosé, appropriately named for men who want to drink pink but need affirmation they are indeed a real man by doing so. Despite its bold, eyebrow-raising name, Fat Bastard 2007 Rosé is actually a very delicious rosé wine produced in my favorite region of France, the Languedoc, from the Syrah grape variety. It is a gorgeous pink rosé color, with bright flavors of raspberry, red licorice, and hints of seductive Indian spice. Despite its color, it is not a feminine wine. Though some dry rosés have a subtle amount of tannin, the tannin here (grape tannin as opposed to tannin from oak aging) is a bit more aggressive, rendering the wine more textural and thus a bit more suitable for "masculine" dishes as pork or composed salads with beef.

Shakespeare was quite correct when he said "a rose by any other name will smell as sweet," yet he was not living in 2008 when names carry a great deal of weight. According to some Internet stories, the wine was thus named when a colleague told the winemaker it was a "fat bastard of a wine," meaning the wine had a great deal of body. To be very honest, the name is very much in keeping with the trend of curious wine names. In one store in New York's Upper East Side, I was surprised to see almost an entire row of wines with names like "Mommy's 5:00 treat."

At any rate, Fat Bastard happens to be a very good dry rosé that pairs with a wide variety of cuisine and sells for a very affordable (about $9) price. Try it - you will like it.