This month, the wine panel championed an overlooked, underestimated, pretty-in-pink wine: the rosé. Made from red grapes, it's a wine that's taken seriously in France.

But until recently, rosés suffered from an image problem on this side of the Atlantic. That's because many rosés are the same pastel shade as cloyingly sweet white zinfandels from California. Turned off by this style, which is not a classic rosé, prejudiced consumers saw pink as code for sweet and insubstantial.

Fortunately, as Americans have become increasingly wine savvy, they're discovering a range of rosés to suit many palates. Now, consumers are embracing a food-friendly, drier rosé, far removed from the one-dimensional, candy-sweet blush wines that gave pink a bum rap. Served chilled, these crisp, refreshing rosés are ideal for summer menus.

For this month's tasting, we sampled drier rosés priced at less than $20 from all over the globe. We wanted wines that balance ripe fruit with acidity. Aiming for rosés friendly enough to serve at a party, or with an al fresco feast, we avoided the two extremes: tutti-frutti sweet and astringently bone-dry.

Of the 18 wines sampled, we selected 10 winners, most of them great values. They ranged from a dry, well-structured cabernet franc rosé that drinks like a red wine to a fruity-sweet blend with a lively touch of acidity, a step up in dryness from white zinfandel.

Pink doesn't precisely describe the appearance of the rosés sampled: They ranged from pale salmon to strawberry to rose-petal-colored.

Those who dismiss rosés out of hand should wise up and loosen up. Pigeonholing rosés is as senseless as stereotyping gorgeous blondes. There's enough variety among rosés to select one for a poolside party, another for grilled lamb and another for grilled seafood. You get the idea. Here's what we took away from this month's rosé tasting:

•None of the winning rosés was extremely sweet.

•Fruit-forward rosés with a dry finish dominated our list of winners. We dismissed two rosés that tasted of under-ripe fruit; they had a green, vegetal quality that was off-putting.

•A balance of fruit and acidity was a common denominator among winners. Lively acidity gave sweet rosés a big edge over styles deemed cloying, catapulting them to the winners' circle.

•Don't drink rosés more than a couple of years old; generally, you should look for a rosé's most recent vintage available. Right now, both 2005 and 2006 vintages are available.

•Labels can be deceptive: Some of our tasters found Toad Hollow's Eye of the Toad Pinot Noir Dry Rosé more candy-sweet than dry.

•A dry, dusty-style rosé from Provence proved too astringent to be a crowd-pleaser; this classic Southern French style works better with specific Provencal dishes than on its own.

Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.

THE MISSION: Find friendly rosé wines, priced less than $20, suitable for outdoor entertaining or summer menus.

THE TASTERS:

Blythe Beck, executive chef, Hector's on Henderson

George Howald, Serendipity Wine Imports

Paul Pinnell, sommelier

James Tidwell, certified wine educator and sommelier at Café on the Green, The Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas

Cathy Barber, Taste editor

Tina Danze, freelance writer

TASTING NIBBLES: This was not a food pairing. But while tasting wines, we nibbled on blueberries, an Amish gorgonzola (not a creamy style), very thin crackers and roast chicken.