Rosés

A rosé by any other name would smell as sweet…

Or not.

Our wine club met recently for a tasting of rosé wines. The group, which has added two new members (R. and B.) found that, though we all love rosé champagne and sparkling wines, we don’t care quite so much for still rosé wines.

Here’s a quick rundown of those we tasted:

Domaine Amido, Les Amandines, 2004 Tavel (France) – Ruby-hued and plenty of vinegar on the nose -- at first sniff. With eyes closed, we’d have pegged it as a white. Delicate-to-medium fruit and somewhat tart. Decent.

Julien Fouet, 2003 Cabernet de Saumur (France) – A mix of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes. The hue was beautiful – a pale pink with glints of amber – and the nose was sweet and a tad musky. Nice finish.

Joseph Roty 2002 Marsannay Rosé (France) – Dry and lovely. I was so entranced by it I took very few notes. But it was the group favorite by a mile.

Muri-Gries Sudtiroler Lagrein Kretzer 2004 (Italy) – The unfamiliar lagrein grape has lots of raspberry on the nose and is slightly effervescent. Not bad.

Artazuri Navarra (Spain) – ICK! Too sweet. The worst of the bunch.

Sola Rosa 2004 (California) – A blend of sangiovese and merlot, with a perfumey nose (lavender?) No one really liked this one either.

If you pick up any of these (or, on my advice, a champagne) they pair well with Middle Eastern food (thanks to Vinography for the suggestion!) We served up ours with to-go platters from YaYa Cuisine: succulent lamb kebabs, hummus and smoky baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, warm pita bread, grilled chicken and baklava. To me, that was the real hit of the night.

Comments

[Jeff Shattuck]

Hear, hear! YaYa's food was AMAZING.

[Beth]

Great wine roundup. That's cool that you are in a wine group.

[Catherine]

Jeff -- Yup.

Beth -- love your new site! Yeah, we just got a few folks together and started one. Each time we meet we pick a new theme (white Burgundies under $25, or Roses, or whatever) and just buy a bunch of bottles and try to learn something. (Er, they do. I just try to pour myself a bunch of the ones I like and have fun -- I can't tell what's in a nose or anything. I'm wine tasting-impaired. But I can drink!)