By Robyn James, Proprietor

The Wine Cellar & Tasting Room

winecellar@pinehurst.net

            As soon as the temperature rises in the spring, my thoughts turn to the dry rose’ wines of Europe.  This is that time of year that I get funny looks about the pink wine in my glass.  No, it is not the low alcohol, sweet “white” zinfandel mass produced by the likes of Sutter Home, Gallo and Beringer, tasting strangely like soda.  Forget the Portuguese Mateus and Lancer’s you were introduced to in your teens.  That was just the mother of White Zin.  This is a whole different animal. 

            The dry rose’ is the ideal summer wine.  They must be consumed young; this is not a wine to age.  They are a vibrant translucent rose pink in color, offering up a nose that even the most inexperienced wine taster would recognize as overflowing with strawberry and cherry.  Surprisingly bone dry – though this is usually offset by the refreshing acidity, they tend to be full-bodied, rich and spicy, carrying a serious alcoholic clout.  They make immediate converts out of the most cynical of wine drinkers, so much so that their style is currently being imitated (but not duplicated) by California’s Rhone Rangers.  California winemakers still can’t resist the temptation to leave too much residual sugar.

These rose’ wines are mostly made using the same blends as the local red wines, and by being pressed in one of two way.  The first is to stack them up in stainless steel tanks, in which their weight creates a light crushing, after a couple of days in contact with their skins, the juice is run off.  The second method, called saignee in France, is to bleed some pink wine off the top of a vat during the early stages of a red wine’s maturation.  The remaining red wine supposedly becomes more concentrated as a result.

My favorite rose’s come from France and Spain, and although you could make a rose’ out of any red grape, they are typically fashioned from Grenache, syrah, Mouvedre, all French Southern Rhone varietals.  In Spain, Tempranillo is often used, the native grape of Rioja.

Call me cheap, but I still think rose’ wines should be relatively inexpensive.  I expect to pay between $8 -$12 a bottle.  However, the raging exception to this would be the Lafite of Rose’s, from Domaine Tempier in Bandol, France at the very foot of Provence.  Mouvedre has found its spiritual home in Bandol and the rose’ has a cult following.  Pale peach-colored wine, with its complex red fruit and mineral scented nose that leads to a softly textured complexity and full bodied character.  At around $30 a bottle, sometimes you just gotta treat yourself. 

            Europeans, oblivious to the American invention of White Zinfandel, have been quaffing rose’ wines for centuries.  Stroll by the little sidewalk bistros of Provence or Barcelona and check out the big, burly farmers cooling off with their glass of spicy, dry rose’.  They are the summer wines of European hospitality.

            I always know when one of my customers has been on a European holiday, they return to the shop in search of the wine that caught their fancy at that little café.

            Rose’ Reminders: 

1)  Always buy the youngest vintage available.  Despite possessing both acidity and tannins, the fruit disappears quickly from a rose’.

2)  And always chill them.  It’s amazing how rapidly a perfectly fruity rose’ loses its appeal and turns alcoholic as it warms up in the glass.

            Here are a few of my favorites:

BODEGAS MUGA RIOJA

ROSADA, SPAIN, 2004, Approx., $11

A blend of 60% Garnacha, 30% Viura, and 10% Tempranillo,

 one of my favorite roses for summer drinking.

 Its light pink color is accompanied by scents of sweet

strawberries and minerals. Although dry and austere,

 there is noteworthy flavor density as well as good

 length to this crisp, vibrant, surprisingly full rose.

DOMAINE HOUCHART COTES DE

PROVENCE ROSE’, FRANCE, 2004, Approx., $9

A blend of 40% Grenache, 40% Cinsault, 5% Cabernet

and 5% Syrah.  Effusive aromas of strawberries,

cherries, light spice and cool mountain breeze.

 Thirst-quenching flavors of brisk, fresh red

 fruits—even watermelon. One of the most refreshing and

 soothing wines you will experience. This little bottle

of perfection should cost a lot more.

TORTOISE CREEK ROSE’ D’UNE

NUIT, LANGUEDOC, FRANCE, 2004, Approx., $9

70% Syrah, 30% Grenache.  Fresh and clean rosé, with pretty

 strawberry aromas and flavors and a good crispness.