Rosé – The Next Big Thing

Our April wine club gathering was another special evening as we explored the world of rosés.  Thanks to the expert guidance of our specialist, Bryce, we found ourselves asking by the end of the evening, “Why the bad rep?”

Though you might remember drinking pink wines from Spain, Portugal or Germany as a youngster,

the production of rosés is something else France does best.  These wines are usually drunk in the summer, and they come generally from the same locale – the southern area of the Rhone river valley.

To give us a little flavor about the place, Bryce showed us a  video by Rick Steves about Aix en Provence.  We learned that it is known for its herbs: sage, thyme, rosemary.  They also play boules there, which is like bocce.

We also learned that most rosés are made from the same type of grape.  And no, the pink color does not come from mixing red and white wines.  That’s simply INTERDIT!  VERBOTEN!!  ILLEGAL!!!

How do they do it then?  They leave the skins from the red grapes in the mix for a little while.
So even though we’re talking the same locale and the same single type of grape, we actually found a bit of variety.  Let’s start from the beginning.

Our control wine (remember that’s the one we’re allowed to start drinking immediately if necessary) was a 2011 La Ferme Julien from the Ventoux region but acquired for our purposes at none other than Trader Joe’s for the astonishing price of about $6 a bottle.  We thought it was o.k.  Although it supposedly had some strawberry aroma, it was more mineral tasting than one might expect.  Some tasters thought it was flat.

The next wine (dubbed #1 for reference) was a 2012 Domaine du Perre Cabouche, Vin de Pays de Vaucluse.   This wine was a lot lighter in color compared to the control wine, but it was a bit more orange.   The flavor was definitely strawberry – sweet strawberry, in fact.  It was not cloying, however, and it was bit more tannic.  With its strong aroma, this turned out to be a very interesting wine – so interesting in fact that guesses as to its price ranged from $10 to $18 a bottle.  It sells for $9.  Vis-à-vis the control wine, this was the clear winner in preference.

Wine #2 was a 2011 Petit Rimauresq from Cotes de Provence.  Here we came upon a stronger, butterscotch nose, not very fruity, with some minerality.   It too was light but peachy in color.  There was the flavor of strawberry, but not at all like that of #1 which had a burst of fruit.  Instead this was also a bit buttery and more austere.  This combined to make the minerality more likeable.  Some people thought they might pay up to $20 for this wine, but it actually sells for around $11.

A 2012 Chateau Calissanne, from Aix en Provence was our wine #3.

Its color was just a bit redder than #2, but not quite as red as #1, and not nearly as neon as the control wine.  All the production of this wine occurs in stainless steel tanks.  So while it supposedly tasted of red currant and almonds, no one picked up the flavor of almonds.  By this time, people were becoming more savvy about price.  Most thought they would pay $14 or $15, and they were right.  $15 is the selling price.

Our final wine, #4, was a 2011 Domaine Tempier, from Bandol.

This one caused our tasters to rub their chins quite a bit.  It was quite different from the others and was almost effervescent on the tongue.  The nose was described as “odd”.  We gave it some time to open up a bit and finally were able to describe it as smelling white but tasting red.  This might have been the most austere of the bunch while at the same time revealing fruit flavors.  What made this one different from the others was the use of mourvedre grapes.   Here’s how the great expert Robert Parker describes it:  “The best rosé in the world”.   With that tag, we all thought it might cost a bit more than the others like $25, $35 or even $40.  Well it actually retails for $42.  Not too shabby for a rosé, huh?  Four of the seven tasters would choose this wine over the others if they found a $50 bill on the sidewalk and were told to go buy a pink wine.  (If price were a consideration, people were fairly evenly split among all but #2.)

All right, why do we entitle this class as Rosé – The Next Big Thing?  Here’s the deal.  I’m in the middle of writing up these notes when I have to go somewhere and hop on a bus.  There’s a community newspaper sitting in my seat.  I open it up and right there is an ad for “21 Days of Rosé” – a different rosé every night of the week through May 28 at a restaurant called Amali in Manhattan.  “Whaddup with that”, we in Brooklyn say.  We don’t go to Manhattan.  OK, OK, so on my way home I pass Café Dada on Lincoln Place and 7th Avenue in our very own neighborhood (that’s right one block from the Montauk Club) and what’s going on there?  Rosé Month, that’s what?  Any more questions?