I don't know why the color of a wine would make anyone feel like less of a wine drinker. I mean, it's just a color. Maybe it's the mysticism associated with being a fruity sweet wine like White Zin as opposed to something more serious. Whatever! You press a lemon and the juice is tart. You press a Zinfandel grape and it's fruity. To each their own. So, with summer comes the consumption of the pink stuff otherwise know as Rose. I drink this style of wine all year round when the mood or food is right. For whatever reason why Rose wine is associated with summer is beyond me. I mean it's not like wearing white after Labor Day. Next holiday you make a glazed ham, try a Rose specifically one from Spain made from the Monastrel grape. Ahhh, match made in heaven.
Simply put Rose wine is made by letting the grape "juice" (for lack of scientific terms) come into contact with the dark grape skins for a short time just to allow some color. Think of it as dropping a white egg into a cup of water dyed with PAZ Easter Egg dye. Sometimes you put just enough coloring you get baby blue pastel and other times you go a little heavy handed and you get navy blue.
Some of the best Rose comes from the southern region of France called Provence. There, the wines are typically a blend of several different grapes such as Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Carignane, Cinsult and others. The end result is a wine that, in most cases, is clean crisp with good acidity, light to medium body and tropical fruit to citrus on the nose. I'm starting to see more Rose from Provence blending in Cabernet Sauvignon for body, this year imparticularly.
Bringing the party back home...the big three wine producing states do their versions of Rose wine. Although, as of late I've been drinking rose from lesser known wine producing states such as Arizona and Long Island, NY.
Of all the places, who would've thunk that they can make wine outta AZ? One vineyard in particular, Arizona Stronghold, makes a wonderful Rose called Dayden. It's a huge blend of many grapes with a touch of red Zinfandel. A little darker in color than your typical Rose but tons of flavor and nose on this bad boy. It tastes more like biting into the last piece of rose colored flesh on a watermelon right before you hit the white meat on the rind. Good stuff, but I'll spare you the details for another post.
Coming back to the east coast take a gander at what Long Island wine producers from Wolffer Vineyards and Bedell are doing with Rose. Both are more Provence France in style and flavor. Beautiful, elegant, clean, crisp and dry. They both smell more like Sauvignon Blanc than anything else. Again, more on wine from wacky places for another post. But, seek these wines out and try them while they're in area stores.
You gotta chuckle when someone turns their nose up to a White Zinfandel. I mean, Beringer Vineyards makes world renowned wines. Their white Zin funds every project and keeps the place in business. When Christmas rolls into town this year, see what White Zin is stacked to the ceiling. No laughing, but for many people White Zin was their gateway drug into wine drinking. Hopefully you've graduated into other wines by now, but again you had to start somewhere.
Again with any wine, taste around and find out what tickles your taste buds the best. Try the wines on their own and with food. You'll be surprised at how much a better a wine tastes when it has something else to play off of.
This past week, we happened to partake in a private home wine tasting with around 20 of our closest friends and family. By the end of the evening we had changed everyone's mind as to how they felt about Rose wine. Get the people out of their comfort zone and show them what it's all about. Words can't explain what your palate is tasting sometimes so it's always better to pour the glass and sip, savor the night away....but I'm more of a hands on learner anyways! Cheers!
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