The Annual Rosé Issue
Dearest subscribers, just like that, it’s rosé season again! In this issue, I’ll share my top picks among the 2019/2020 vintages, along with some favorites from past issues.
Not all rosé is created equal. Among this issue’s review of ten wines, I’ll also be including some bottles I wouldn’t recommend, with the aim to define and describe for you the flavours, aromas, and structural flaws present in poorly made rosé.
Some other tips when looking for a good bottle:
Look for a young vintage.
Rosé, at it’s best, is fresh and youthful. This year drink 2020s and 2019s
Location, location, location.
Like Belgian chocolates or Guatemalan coffee, origin often confers a standard of quality. In wine, you want to dig a little deeper, look for named sub-regions, appellations and vineyards on the label.
Ice, Ice, baby!
Serve well-chilled and keep on ice.
Make it a meal.
Many rosés are fuller in body and higher in alcohol than you might think. For best results, make these wines part of a meal.
Drink now.
Most rosé wines are not suitable for long-term aging.
Past Favourites
Caves d'Esclans Whispering Angel
Delicate notes of strawberry, fresh raspberry, and sea salt are met on the palate with refreshing acidity and a faint suggestion of ripe peach. This is a crisp and refreshing wine that manages simultaneously, and with spectacular fashion, to offer great body, weight, and a notably, unexpectedly, long finish.
Its pale colour belies the intensity found on the nose. Aromas of strawberry, redcurrant and sage are matched and followed on the palate with mineral notes, rose-petal, and a touch of summer savory.
Good rosé is often described as having saline and lightly herbaceous notes. This wine has both, along with a subtle and youthful fruitiness and bone-dry finish.
A harmonious and dry rosé with full-body and high alcohol. The nose is clean and lively with notes of strawberry, peach, and saline. The palate adds savoury notes.
Origin: New Mexico, USA
Vintage: NV
Grape(s): Pinot Noir
Style: Dry, crisp, bubbly
Price: $25.95
Alc/vol.: 12%
From the same producers of the Sauvage Blanc de Blancs I reviewed in January’s Bubbly Issue, comes this gorgeous sparkling rosé with intensely audible bubbles and a clean, dry, palate of fresh strawberry and raspberry. The aromas are delicate but persistent and the finish is resounding.
In the Bubbly Issue, I shared that the Gruet Family had established roots in French winemaking with their Champagne house Gruet et Fils before setting up shop in Engle, New Mexico. Innovation, I think, is rarely accidental. More often it’s born of deep knowledge and understanding, and, certainly, a willingness to experiment, to push limits, challenge what’s expected. Just think of it, having the vision, the know-how, and the sheer moxy to set out to produce sparkling wine in New Mexico in the 1980s!
Gruet wines are special, unexpected and delightful to drink.
Pair with: Salmon Niçoise or Chateau de Bourgogne on slices of fresh baguette
Origin: Rioja, Spain
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): Garnacha, Viura, Tempranillo
Style: Dry, complex, firm
Price: $15.95
Alc/vol.: 13%
An outstanding wine for the price. It’s serious and complex and somehow manages to be youthful, fresh, and steadfast all at once.
Dry, with perceptibly high alcohol and notes of stewed strawberry, wild raspberries, and a hint of watermelon giving it a clean vibrancy on the finish. This wine also has a herbaceous side giving it further character and dimension.
Well-structured, with great body, and the kind of mouthwatering acidity that leaves you with your arm outstretched, in search of a top-up.
Pair with: Grilled shrimp pasta primavera or stuffed mushrooms
Origin: Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault
Style: Dry, crisp, refreshing
Price: $18.95
Alc/vol.: 12.5%
For many, including myself, this is a favourite summertime sipper!
This wine is youthful, fresh, and fruit-forward. Bursting with aroma, it’s as if this wine were comprised of the world’s freshest strawberries, juiciest watermelons, and most aromatic peaches. And yet the palate is fine and quite delicate, nothing candied or confected. In fact, this wine is perfectly clean, dry, and refreshing.
This is exactly the style of rose I like sipping poolside on a hot summer day.
Pair with: Fried coconut shrimp or smoked ribs
Origin: Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): Grenache, Syrah
Style: Dry, crisp, refreshing
Price: $15.90
Alc/vol.: 12.5%
Nearly identical to the Côte des Roses in composition and structure. Another excellent choice for daytime sipping, pool, beach, or dockside.
A youthful pale blush, fresh and ripe fruits on the nose and palate, a dash of salinity a touch of minerality. Not overly complex, but we don’t want it to be!
Pair with: Salt and vinegar chips
Origin: Rhône Valley, France
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah
Style: Dry, medium-bodied, clean
Price: $12.45
Alc/vol.: 13%
An easy-going weeknight wine when you’re having dinner for one. Or, for those occasions when you need to fill a cooler full of wine and beer!
This wine has the predictable freshness and red-fruit profile you’d expect from a young vintage rosé. It’s not going to knock your socks off with its dimension and complexity but it won’t offend your tastebuds either. It’s dry, clean, and youthful, with enough body to stand up to a tuna or turkey sandwich but it’s unpretentious enough to sip on its own.
Pair with: A tuna or turkey sandwich
Origin: Clarksburg, Ontario
Vintage: NV
Grape(s): Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Style: Dry, crisp, bubbly
Price: $26.95
Alc/vol.: 11%
A favourite of this tasting, perhaps mostly because it was completely unexpected. I’d never tasted a wine from Southern Georgian Bay and thus had no notion of what to expect. I’ve been splitting my time during the pandemic between Toronto and the Collingwood area, so trying a local wine from this area had a lot of appeal. Upon first sip I was more than pleasantly surprised, I was floored!
Clean, dry, and so delicate. The nose offers a gentle waft of the loveliest strawberry, followed by white peach, rose petal, and a touch of freshly baked brioche. The palate is dry with persistent, vigorous bubbles. A fine wine with excellent structure.
The blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier is what we call a Blanc de Noirs assemblage is traditional method sparkling winemaking.
Pair with: Poached salmon with a lemon and caper sauce
Pictured centre.
Origin: Roussillon, France
Vintage: 2019
Grape(s): Mourvedre, Grenache Gris
Style: Dry, clean, refreshing
Price: $17.95
Alc/vol.: 12.5%
Much like the Côte des Roses and La Baume, this is another fresh and youthful rosé. In fact, you might consider them interchangeable. You’ll get notes of rose water, strawberry, and peach, with a faint suggestion of watermelon. Again, the beauty of these three wines is that you get all of the fresh, ripe fruit flavours and aromas without artificial sweetness.
Is Whispering Angel better? Yes! But you're not going to spend $30 every time you need a bottle of rosé. For those occasions, when you’re looking for a wine south of $20, choose one of these. They’re solid, predictable, and effortlessly palatable.
Pair with: Watermelon salad with Bocconcini, basil, and a drizzle of balsamic
Not Recommended
Pictured from left, Maison No. 9 , Bread & Butter Rosé & Stel + Mar California Rosé
I’d describe each of these wines as overly confected, sugary, sappy. The kind of wines that make your teeth feel fuzzy after a few sips.
Maison No. 9 at $30 was most disappointing. The nose lead with notes of fuzzy peach, hard strawberry candy, and watermelon flavoured Jolly Rancher. The palate was similarly confected and lacked structural acidity.
The Bread & Butter in a word tasted artificial. I tasted it multiple times, over the course of two days, and it never redeemed itself. Sappy, artificially sweet, cloying.
Lastly, the Stel + Mar. Super cute label; not a cute wine. I noted that this wine was severely lacking in body, giving it a flabby mouthfeel. The nose also featured an unpleasant note of apricot that smelled almost tinny.
Like what you read here? Have a recommendation of your own? Please, share your thoughts or questions in the comments box below.
Wishing all of you a happy & healthy, rosé season!
Always at your service,
Ashley
