A Handful Of Refreshing Pink Wines For This Gawd Awful Weather

Holy Mother of all heat waves, it’s blistering out here. I know many of my readers are from outside California but let me just tell you….it’s like walking on the surface of the sun around these parts, and for those of you that are from southern California, does this blow or what? It’s April dammit, like two weeks ago we were still wearing sweatshirts now I am having to wet my shirt just to keep from being a cranky bitch….(grumble). Yesterday was ridiculous, just moving made me sweat and sweating without the benefit of like burning calories, or havin’ a little fun, (if you know what I’m sayin’) is just annoying.

I was uncomfortable all day, and reading posts, or tweets or whatever they are called over on facebook, the others in the area were very much in the same boat. Sweaty, swollen, uncomfortable and cranky, oh and clearly whinny as well, it was craptastic. I tried everything to shift my “tude” but little was working, that was until I remembered that I had a few bottles of Rose in the fridge! I had grabbed a bunch to write more extensive notes, so hard when a supplier comes in with like 12 Roses to taste….I mean in that setting the notes start looking the same. I wanted to spend more time, taste them with food and focus on that side of the wine’s personality…um, yeah did I mention I was cranky and looking for something to soothe me?!

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5 bottles opened, sweaty hair pulled back in a ponytail, and pen in hand, I attacked. I’ll fully admit that at first I was kind of guzzling, they are just so damn refreshing that I was finishing my glass, (it was not a full glass mind you…sheesh whadaya think I am?!) before I had even three lines of notes. I toyed with the idea of telling my husband that it was so damn hot that the wines were evaporating, but fearing I was in no mood for his mockery I let it go. I let my palate get saturated and then it was time to get serious, well, as serious as one gets with Rose anyway.

Here is a smattering of what will be the giant piles of pink wine that will grace the front of our store, we have about 8 now, more to come next week and waaaaayyy more in the weeks after, it’s damn hot people, get your pink on.


2008 Chateau de Pampelonne Cotes de Provence Rose, (16.99) We first flipped over this wine with the 2006 vintage but many of us felt the 2007 fell a little short, sad part is, it hadn’t..it just needed time. I had a bottle in January and it was absolutely delicious and when I tasted the 2008 it reminded me of the 2007 with a few months of age on it. Soft fruit, almost like strawberry hard candy sans the sweetness, so like cooked berries with a pretty little middle of wet stones, in the mouth the wine is full and quite gentle with a crisp not too tart finish. A wine I would love with spicy grilled shrimp, chicken or anything with a little punch of aggressive seasoning.



2008 Domaine de Fenouillet Cotes du Ventoux Rose, (11.99) Of the five wines this one was the one that showed the most upfront fruit, again like cooked berries but deeper like raspberries with a sprinkle of white pepper. Plump in the mouth but with a sharp, ultra refreshing snap on the finish.



2008 Patton Valley Pinot Noir Rose, ($14.99) This was one of my favorites last year so I was pretty thrilled when we got our little stack in…but, um…I think this wine needs just a couple of weeks to pull itself together, it’s kinda all over the place. It has all the pieces, racy tart melon, lemon rind and a light delicate body but I think it needs to settle a bit, showing a bit of spritz at first that gives way to a super sour finish….like I said, I have had this wine and love it so I am sure it is just a little disjointed right now and I will report back when I re-taste it in a couple of weeks.



2008 Domaine de la Petite Mairie Bourgueil Rose, ($16.99) Now I ordered this wine without tasting it, I was going with the whole, “Loire Cabernet Franc is on fire" angle and just crossed my fingers….dude. Rose petals, spice, delicate and round enough in the mouth to make you believe you are drinking a red wine…but a super tangy refreshing one! Randy and I both flipped over this one, he even called to see if we could more than the 3 cases I ordered, we did, 18 more bottles…doh! Gonna fly and as I am planning to pour it this weekend for our Cabernet Franc tasting, well I don’t suspect it will be around too long.



2008 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis Rose, ($22.99) “Cha-Ching” as far as Roses go, it is clearly up there in price but it is worth every penny. You want to know what “serious” Rose tastes like? This is it, minerals, watermelon rind, wild strawberry and a lean tight body of thirst quenching acidity. Bring on the grilled veggies, thick garlic mayo, charred meats and fresh seafood