Return of That Rosé (you almost forgot you sampled)

The…EVERYTHING of an amazing rosé. I am gonna say it is this. WTF why not.

Oh heck so two years ago I was at a special event ( I was guest mixologist ooh ahh) and I tasted this and I went home and bookmarked the winery and…neglected that bookmark until now. And now. Just now! I ordered a couple bottles and doubted the amazingness I was about to taste because when I first tried it, it wasn’t on a blank palette–it was on a drinking-my-own-bourbon-cocktail palate. But tarnished or blank palate this wine will MOVE you. At least the rosé. I also ordered a red and cannot wait to try. 

But. Let’s talk the rosé.

Holy heck. Their wine. So good then and so good two years later when I ordered a bottle and started writing this entry.
Ok now sure. Let’s go with metaphors.

The Fantasie. That is this vino’s name.

2016  Seebass Rosé of Grenache

So you meet someone. It is big like at first meet. And I’m not talking romance–Just the ohhhh this person could be a lifelong friend! 

You get their info. Or jot down the name of the wine somewhere. Ya know.

Then you get distracted. For like two years. And you think…can I contact them? Will it be as magical as the first time we met?

So it was here. I was resident mixologist at a farm-to-table dinner. This wasn’t even the sponsor wine. This lovely winery was. But one of the benefactors of the dinner brought the Seebass Rosé for kicks and it…made an impression.

So it took two years for me to say hey…I should get a bottle and soberly evaluate. 

But nah this shit is legit.

You will regret not having followed up sooner. Oh no this friend is better than memory. Y’all will make up for lost time.

This rosé is filled, when you smell, with grapefruit. And perhaps unripe raspberry but then you taste and it…well people who don’t know better mightttttt say sweet and I would correct them: it is just the fruit. But then the stones kick in.

The big story? Just taste strawberries soaked in white balsamic vinegar and there ya go. But I will give a more…in depth description. All the same you SHOULD taste strawberries with the white balsamic treatment. Preferably with a twist of black pepper.

And then this is grenache has a wicked high alcohol level (14.5abv) and yet the acid is cutting enough you slurp this stuff up not realizing. What you are getting into.

Oh heck okay I am sipping with sober palate so let me do the boring WSET analysis but before that let me just say…METAPHORICALLY this is the person you meet and are SO impressed with and worry when you meet again you won’t like and then they are even better. Okay.

Eye: clear, medium salmon pink, medium quick tears.

Nose: clean, medium intensity, lemon, grapefruit, peach, youthful as fuuuuuuu

Tongue: Dry, acid is medium, tannins nahhhhh, alcohol I THOUGHT was medium but that sneaky sneaky grenache…this is medium plus alcohol. Medium body. Flavor intensity medium, and the flavors? This is a pinkkkkkkk grapefruit. With maybe a whiff of juice from a white one. And maybe a wet rock. And then a strawberry but an unripe one that was soaked in white balsamic vinegar. Come to think of it there is a LOT of white balsamic but you have to have spent way oodles of money on vinegar and berries to confirm this. Instead just drink this wine. You will get the flavor profile and tipsy too.

Okay the all important finish? Ohhhhhhit is somewhere between medium and medium plus. It is gentle yet nuanced. More nuanced than the loudmouth you THOUGHT you were following up with. This one is a keeper.

Basic: an interlude


Okay thank you Gallo for this shiznit. 

2016 Edna Valley Vineyard California Rosé

It is basic.

But on a hot LA night is it…refreshing? Yah. 

Bracing? Yah. Fuck yah I thought the alcohol level was higher.

Interesting? Oh dot dot dot…(so like literally dot dot dot) Nah. 

The price is straight up value though. Worth it on a hot summer night.

But it is pink and dry and redolent of ripe strawberries and little else but this ain’t no strawberry hill fiasco. It is so crisp dangit. 

And that screwcap just twists off like you live in a “who needs to remember a corkscrew” heaven.

It just fills the bill. The bill being my mouth as I sit here reading Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker for inspo because can’t stop won’t stop. Learning the vino.

Cheers y’all. Go to bed for fuck’s sake.

One for you, one because yum, sip, gulp

Okay this one is simple. 

Maybe I am over-simplifying because this wine is more complex than some of the other pinkies that arrived at my step this season. 

Yet the simplicity is quite elegant for a wine you can grab from the grocery store. 

2016 Dark Horse Rosé

This is simpler than some of the even cheaper rosés I’ve sampled this  season but better too. It is simple but pretty and balanced and I appreciate the name and label. 

So if you only ever buy grocery stores for wine do me a favor and grab this.

It is a good pink delight. Grab it. Drink it. Wooooohoo! 

That’s all for tonight, lovers.

WINTER comes Rosé

My main fear is that my multitude of smart, educated, impassioned musings on rosé still cannot get people to give pink wine a fair shot.

That’s not actually my main fear. My main fears are not fare for blogging here. ANYWAY.

Rosé is NOT JUST FOR SUMMER!!!!

HOPEFULLY ALL CAPS CONVINCE YOU!!!!

Rosé is a wine for all seasons. Don’t you give me lip. This is what you want. I promise. It will warm you up, cool your tongue and light up your soul. 

Before we get to today’s pick let us revisit rosés of the past. This Rosé is still my fave American pink. This One is still my SECOND fave french. 

But right now this is truly my latest hardcore Give Me pink vino love:
2015 Chateau de Trinquevedel Rosé

A full deep wine that offers as much on the tongue as it does to the eye.

ME-fucking-OW.

You are thirsty. You want something pretty badass and PRETTY to look at too. You want something that makes the woman in you roar. Or maybe the secure male in you knows that true men drink pink…you want that part to make some noise.

So this. It is full and vibrant pink that verges on salmon but is HOT DAMN deep pink.

45% Grenache, 24% Cinsault, 15% Clairette, 10% Mourvedre, 6% Syrah

It smells of pink grapefruit, limes, cranberries, and holy fuck fabric? Like crisp ironed fabric. Linens.

And some white roses. Picture a bouquet of white roses on Ophelia’s chest floating away from the shore. It is romantic and delicious.

It is those holiday napkins you starch and iron for special occasions. But you folded them into cornucopias holding strawberries and limes and maybe a pretty smooth river stone.

Like the stiffness of a starched napkin it is robust–a plate full of cranberry sauce and bread hearty stuff. But it is elegant. The starched napkin, unfolded into the lap of a woman in silk changes that dynamic.

It is good. Dang.

So that OUGHT to be enough but if you are a wine nerd here are my WSET 3 notes:

EYES: Clear, medium plus, salmon pink 

NOSE: clean, medium intensity grapefruit, wet stones, nectarines and starch. Youthful.

TONGUE: dry, medium plus acid, medium alcohol+ (thank you Grenache for that 13.5%abv), medium plus body for a rosé, flavor intensity medium, then the grapefruits, cranberries, linens, white peach, white flower and honey perhaps? And just fucking delicious. Finish is medium. Not complex but mellow and stony. Picture the feeling you get turning a cool stone over and over in your palm and that is this. Delish.

Quality: GREAT. That’s not WSET just me. I’d think at least twenty but holy duckbills it is like 18. Drink now don’t age. Get next year’s when it is there. Andddddd YES. THIS IS A YES WINE JUST DRINK IT EVEN IN WINTER ESPECIALLY IN WINTER

Let Us Stay: Beaujolais

Okay so I swear my ten-part series on cru Beaujolais is coming. I am in the midst of amassing a wine from each cru. St-Amour is hard to find, y’all. But I’m on it.

IN THE MEANTIME PINNNNNNNK! Pink as in Rosé.

From a winemaker who you may just see resurface in the ten-part series but HOLY HECK I love this producer:

2015 Pierre-Marie Chermette Vissoux “Les Griottes” Beaujolais Rosé

While generally I claim this as THE BEST I’d say on another note this may be at least one of the best. Shit, you guys. I have enough love in my heart for A LOT of rosés out there.

YAS Gamay rosé from the Chermette’s YAS.

I don’t know if the grammar was correct for Chermette’s. Are Pierre and Marie one or two people? Should I have said “Chermettes'”? These things matter.

But not as much as my tasting notes. Sweet babies.

Okay I lie I paused and did some research: Pierre-Marie and Martine Chermette were the upstarts of sustainable viticulture in Beaujolais. So Pierre-Marie is one person. This is a natural wine. Like it waits for the natural yeast to do it’s duty.

That yeast knew what was up!

This wine. Okay I’ll get to my tasting notes. At last:

Gorgeous salmon color. Peach melba on the nose. Dry. HIGH acid. Medium alcohol. Medium plus body as far as a rosé goes! There is some viscousity. More peach melba in the mouth. When I say peach melba I mean peaches plus acidic raspberries plus vanilla n cream. There is a hint of minerality but it is very smooth. Sanded stones. The finish LINGERS! ON! FURTHER THAN YOU’D EXPECT FOR A ROSÉ!

THIS IS THE MAGIC. FRENCH BEAUJOLAIS MAGIC.

This Gamay is my true love.

For now. I’m a fickle beast.

Meow.

 

It’s everywhere for good enough reasons

Okay so I felt shabby when I purchased this at 7-11. So I went home and drew stars on my face. It was pretty chill. I felt less shame.

Truth is, sometimes a girl needs to make an Oreo and wine run, and I live 1/2 a block from a 7-11. 7-11 will surprise you in the relative decentness of their collection. They even have Columbia-Crest.

Don’t you judge. I stand behind my life choices.

This is the choice:

2015 Charles and Charles Columbia Valley Syrah Rosé 

61% Syrah, 12% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, 7% Cinsault, 3% Counoise

Then, after that purchase, I saw this wine at a bar that–well–it had decent wine. More of a beer place but the wine selection was unobjectionable.

And then I saw this wine available at Wine House. Between this and the bar I decided there must be something behind it. It made me feel just super about my 7-11 purchase. 

This wine is that movie made by the comedian you expect to not offer much, that ends up touching you in your heart more deeper than you thought the comedian could. This wine is The Truman Show. It is more than you expect.

But the thing is you look at it and think dang! This will be a complex rosé but dang! Dang again. In a good way. It is…oh I dunno, delightfully fluorescent enough to merit a grlzz night. Because goddamit I’m a girl and my most feminist friends AND feminine (often one and the same) friends fucking LOVE PINK!

GIVE ME PINK or… well if they are roses on Valentine’s Day make ’em red but whatevs. I’m kinda traditional.

Okay what to expect when you buy this wine friggin’ everywhere:

The nose: peaches, grapefruit and fucking wet stones in a stream. I used to laugh when I saw this in a wine desciption but I defy you to take this wine to a stream with some stones and not smell the likehood.

On the tongue:

Bright and dry, medium plus acid, Medium alcohol, medium body, medium intensity of flavor with all the same stuff you smell, plus an essence of mmmm happy?

But it’s more than medium happy. It’s happy plus.

WINE OF THE YEAR

The salinity in this wine is the taste of inhaling deeply on the shore the Pacific in Oregon near Haystock Rock. So go there. And see if the shack selling hot dogs and soft serve (in the 90s) is still around.

Oh my this wine is my Wine of The Year.

It is the brainchild of a Californian so mayhaps the Oregon reference is a wee bit northerly but what the hey. I love that memory. I love this wine.

And I am not sure what I could love more than acting, cats, and French fries.

Few things.

Yet this rosé falls into the “one of my top loves”.

O my flip god.

2015 Rhythm Wine Company “The Meadow” Rosé” Terra Alta Vineyard, Lodi

The mystical grape? Graciano.

I. Know. What? Yeah Graciano go with it. They use it in Spain dudes.

This wine is magical.

Can something that you sniff and think “has notes of cat pee?” Be so perfect? Because it is. Tis fun and refined but with just the rough edges you think it is good for you.

Scroll down past my metaphorical bullshit if you just want analytical notes.

My metaphor was to say it is the guy Marion Cotillard’s character in Rust and Bone goes for. Like…it is unlikely. Unlooked for and unexpected. Hard to pin down and buy, sadly for me. Hard to get even at Covell my favorite wine bar–when they are running low they save it for special fans. Like me. I am a special fan. I also dream of playing all the roles Marion Cotillard gets but that is another story to be saved for when you ask me what I’m acting in these days. Please ask. Ahem.

“Being saved for people I like” is least this is what I told by a few people. That is a fact which I believe as it sells the hell out. Special peeps save it for special peeps. Like most unavailable men/wines you will fall in love esp when you lost both your legs in a killer whale snafu.

Shit not the whale snafu part. That’s a film. Based on real events but still.

Oh hell. I wrote Jasper Dickson, the dude behind the wine and he himself said “Sorry, all out but the 2016 vintage…just you wait”. He didn’t phrase it like that but goddamn I am anxiously awaiting.

To the eye: clear, medium plus intensity pink, thin tears

To your nasal receptors: clean,medium intensity, grapefruit, unripe white peach (trust me it is different than other peaches–and in my opinion better) and white nectarine (also superior), apricot, salinity…seashore in the glass and youthful as hell. Like there is some seaweed essence to it.

Oh.

And pipi de chat. Look it up. It works here just go with me on it. Polite phraseology? Asparagus.

On thar taste buds: Dry, medium acid, medium body, medium plus flavor intensity, and that flavor? The one that is medium plus? Let’s go:

Stone fruit that is not terrifically ripe: white peaches people for real. And white nectarines. Please be advised that white nectarines are really the only stone fruit I like (regular peaches? meh) besides cherries. But hell if I don’t enjoy a white nectarine so the fact I love this is sensible. Some citrus. Honeysuckle, wet stones, you guys, some goddamn soggy rocks, giving salinity. I LOVE this kind o’ salinity.  Friggin why cannot “mineral water served on marble” be a legit tasting note? I say it can. So that and so there.

Finish is medium plus. It takes a smooth meandering journey down your esaphagus that changes little but mellows into slightly more slightly more…sweet feeling than you got at first. But maybe that is the salty nature making you thirsty. Making you crave another quaff of that saline goodness.

Conclusions are good. I say very good. I say my fave of the year so there.

Oh the life!

The joy of this bottle.

2015 VieVite Rosé Côtes de Provence

It was not expected that random Wednesday afternoon and provided a needed spark in the midst of my week. I’d forgotten a publicist had promised me a bottle. Which is a back-handed way of me saying that yah I got this wine for free. But my opinions are my own and blah blah blah etc.

Beyond the thrill of random free food…Look at the shape of this guy. What a bottle.

And finally (before opening) the joy of saying “oh yes well, this is a Provençal vin from grapes grown in Domaine Sainte Marie which is near Saint Tropez.” Sounds so chic. Oooh lala indeed.

This wine is as close as I am getting this summer to the Riviera.

So let me not waste any time and get into cracking open this delight.

The grapes: 30% Cinsault, 30% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 10% Carignan

The color: Medium peachy pink, the color of…oh crud i do not have a good metaphor for it.

The nose: Lightly lemon, sweet grapefruit and perhaps mango and mace.

The Palate: Oh hell let us get colon happy and break palate down further:

Sweet: NO

Acidity: Low plus? It exists but dissipates in two blinks.

Body: Not a mesomorph, not an ectomorph. Perhaps a person who is of lighter weight but has no muscle tone so has some curve. Which is to say medium bodied with a certain silkiness and bite.

Flavor: There is pineapple and peach and red cherry. There is white pepper. There is what you would get if you took generic clover honey and took away the sweetness–a pleasant grass to it. A hint of a flower. Maybe honey blossom to go back to the not-sweet-honey comparison. There is some minerality the nose does not belie, but I am glad is there on the tongue.

Finish: medium short. There is a burn that is pleasant in this 13% abv darling.

Not a WSET category but I am adding it–Spritz Factor: There is a hint of spritz to this like–are those bubbles or just pleasant minerality? I am guessing it is the delicious white quartz soil of the Domaine Saint Marie at work.

Cheers, my sweets.

 

 

Is that rosé or are you just happy to see me?

2015 Domaine de l’Idylle Rosé 

From Savoie. Which is in France. Eastern sorta southern France. 

Now I want to go and buy more. Apparently I enjoy Mondeuse. Mondeuse NOIRE! So goth at heart.

The grapes are Mondeuse. Just to clarify.

I know nada about Mondeuse so…I can only speak for this wine

The color is a delectable peachy salmon.

The nose is peachy and perfumed just a tad.

The tongue says oh-so balanced. There is a tad bit of sweetness. I get a not-too-sweet peach melba made with a mix of raspberries and strawberries and wet stones. Smooth stones with water running over them. The stones are causing the water to be just the teensy bit frothy. Effervescent.

This wine is not THE most effervescent of the bunch. It is not the social butterfly on the center of the dance floor, but it is that chipper girl’s good friend. You know she will be there. She will not be too much or too little. Not too sweet but very, very polite but just interesting enough you know the two of you will stay up all night and discuss both the boys you like and how many dimensions there are in string theory and her jokes will make you want to to hug her and the next weekend she is the gal you probably will hang with again. Not THE love-of-your-life best friend but the reliable chum you love all the same.

To recap: medium-light body, a hint of sweet berries and peach and stones with bubbles. The finish is this clean, fresh crisp AHHHHHHH. That is the only way I can describe it.

The Pink-ies Up, or, When I Went to Teavana

Well crap. I found another food rabbit hole I could see myself going down. Or maybe I should say another sensory rabbit hole–I did a perfume smelling recently that was so similar to wine tasting that I would have left intoxicated even if my friends had not poured a round of port to keep our mouths occupied whilst our noses did the heavy lifting.

But perfume is a rabbit hole for another blog. I wanted to learn of tea. Actually that’s not true. I hadn’t thought much about tea then Teavana was all “come play with teas with us” and I all like “totes!” Except you know that is sort of a lie because I would never say totes in a non-ironic sense of the word. I just said “yes”.

And then I said “extra yes please” (to myself anyway) as I contemplated the tea cocktail possibilities. Fast forward to about 6 minutes 45 seconds to see the cocktail. Or watch it all because we’re funny and stuff:

Let’s start with the Teavana wrongs: so corporate.

Okay I am done.

What Teavana gets right: The passion of the people making tea there. The pure rock sugar crystals they gave me to add to my ever-growing sugar collection (I’ve got nine types of sugar now). The really uber-cool tea brewer thingamajig where you load sweetener and tea in and let er’ rip then set the sucker down on top of your cup and like magic it drains out the bottom into the vessel you will bear to your thirsty lips.

Oh and feast your eyeballs on these big ol’ containers of rock. Sugar:

And then the tea blends. They are pure products. I was tempted to actually snack on some such as the citrus lavender sage blend. Hunks of dried fruit in an herbal and mildly herbal blend? Yes please. Another snack tea was the (unfortunately) excellent peppermint white chocolate blend. Unfortunate because I would sooooo turn up my nose at it if it didn’t smell like heaven and make as good an ice cream topping dry as it does steeped in to tea submission.

They have a good thing going there. A whole wall full of flavors that can be mixed and matched and sniffed and swirled. It was like wine tasting but I didn’t need a designated driver.

Enough of the praise. Let’s booze this shiz-nit up! Because I hate driving enough to create a situation requiring a driver. I made a cocktail with gin and the grapefruit strawberry green tea blend I brought home. I added homemade limoncello and fresh grapefruit juice. Lastly came a dose of bitters, and eventually (as you will see in the video) an extra garnish. So WATCH if you haven’t yet. Ooh, and making a pink cocktail gave reason to make a punny name for me tea-based drink: The Pink-ies Up

Funtimes! Happy! Come fetch my tipsy arse and take me home dear driver!

The Pink-ies Up an original Ellen Clifford tasty delight
For infused gin:
1/2 cup gin (I like Hendrick’s)
1 1/2 tsp. strawberry grapefruit green tea mix
Steep for about 45 minutes then strain. You’ll know the time is right when the gin is pink.

For the drink:
1 1/2 oz. infused gin
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed pink or red grapefruit juice
1 oz. limoncello
4 dashes Angostura bitters
extra dry tea mix to garnish
Shake all but the extra tea with ice. Strain into chilled glasses. Sprinkle on some dry tea.

Pink-ies Up!