I HAVE heard the arguments about atmospheric particles, pondered the prospect of a world without glaciers, and try my hardest to recycle tin cans, but I was never entirely convinced about all that global warming malarkey. Until now. The evidence I needed to prove that we are headed for meltdown comes with the news that sales of rosé wine are soaring.

It seems that summer is synonymous with pink wine, and the British are discovering a serious taste for it. The latest figures show that last year the nation's off-licences shifted 27% more of the stuff than the year before, and rosé now accounts for 8% of all off-sales, compared with 1% a decade ago.

Longer, hotter summers are implicated, but so is the demographic phenomenon known as the "alcopop bulge": the generation weaned on sickly-sweet and lurid coloured booze is growing up and graduating to rosé.

For anyone who remembers the 1970s, pink wine conjures memories of raffia-covered bottles, often crafted into lamps. It carries connotations of wife-swapping parties, with overtones of Laura Ashley and a passing whiff of cheese fondue. But fashion is a funny thing, and the new wave that has rehabilitated platform shoes and early Elton John has also resurrected rosé. We are being advised to forget the saccharine syrup of yore and embrace these remodelled and rebranded "blushes".

One fan is Herald wine expert, Joe Fattorini, who says: "We have got over rubbish rosé and realised that it is versatile - it is a red wine you can chill and it is a white wine with flavour."

Made from red grapes that have their skins removed early in the wine-making process, rosés offer tipplers an alternative. There are also implied health benefits: rosé is commonly believed to be lower in alcohol than other wines, and is perceived as a more responsible drinking option.

At my local offie, though, the rosés on display range from 9% alcohol by volume to 12.5%, which is standard for wine of any hue. The manager, Paul, says he hasn't noticed increased demand for rosé yet, but having seen the story in the papers he will be putting in an extra order. He says tastes in wine come and go, citing surges in consumption of Chardonnay, followed by Pinot Grigio and then Chenin, and reckons it is the female market that drives the trends.

That is true in France, too, where rosé wines are replacing whites as second to reds. "Their fresh, fruity and light nature appeals to young people and women especially," says industry site beveragedaily.com. Or, as Paul put it: "Buckie sales are safe for a wee while yet."

It may not go down well with Scotland's public health police, but the rosé effect is set to boost the domestic wine market for some time to come. Annual average wine consumption in the UK is expected to grow three-and-a-half times faster than the world economy by 2010. It is not known whether that prediction factors in the effect of rising temperatures, but if it does my money is on a gin revival.

After all, gin and tonic was invented by colonial Brits as an acceptable way of ingesting quinine. Given its anti-malarial properties, a regular G&T might prove just the thing when mosquitoes finally vanquish the midge.