Yeah, I Remember You.....Damn

So as the house French wine specialist, and lifer at The Wine Country it has, over the years become my calling to bring in the wall of refreshing and craveable pink wine that meets everyone's eyes the second they walk through the front door each Spring and Summer. This is not only my pleasure it is, thanks to the overwhelming response from all of our customers, my honor to take charge of what has become the most favored warm weather wine, our selection of which is down right legendary. I assure you, for just as many wines as they see there were just as many that were rejected for being too simple, fruity, alcoholic or just plain weird and while I am sure I will find no sympathy I promise you, it is not so much fun to smell, taste and spit the wines that don’t make the cut. Even less fun having to explain to some bandwagoning supplier that their, just acquired....(because you know, everyone has to have a Rose now), Rose is flat, insipid and falls into the, "Are you stoned?!" pricing category compared to the wines we are already working with. Been in the Rose game far too long to be dazzled by some craptastic left behind. If the guys that "got it" before it was hip opted to leave it in France, well then chances are this buyer is going to let in get lost in your giant portfolio of just okay wines. Sorry....  

 

I am asked every year, “Which ones are good?” or “Which is your favorite?” and as any good mother would, “They are all good and it would be too hard to pick a favorite” is what you will hear by way of a response from me. The wines are all good, wouldn’t be at the store if I didn’t truly believe that but as to which is my favorite, well like that mother thing, I might be fibbing a little.

Last year a few of our Saturday tasters as well as a chunk of my blog readers were let in on my favorite Rose, the Domaine de la Fouquette Cotes de Provence Rose and once they tasted it we blew through the last available eight cases on the west coast, in less than a day and a half. It was unreal and while I was a tad bummed that I had let my Rose cat of the proverbial bag and there was no more for me to sip away on, I was thrilled that I was able to share that wine, my most beloved wine, with those of you that got that opportunity to try it. 

So as it turns out, I have already found the Rose that makes my toes curl, far earlier this year than last year but sadly, it is just as limited, in fact...far more limited. Don’t you just hate that?!  Got our annual Rose Fest coming up here screaming fast and now I find myself in a quandary, pour it for our event or spill here first and let those that wish to be seduced by the most compelling Rose I've had, well since two vintages ago when this very same producer released his 2011 Rose on me. Oh yeah, damn, I remember you...

So last year the Fouquette was simply charming. A delightful little Rose that drank like it had a fistful of grapefruit squeezed into it and should have been far more expensive....even tasted it along side some wines twice its price and still preferred the Fouquette. Stoopid value that was simply delicious. This year however, it isn't a charmer that has stolen my heart...no, this wine reaches beyond the constraints of Rose and lands squarely in that seductive, contemplative and haunting category.

"Don't hide it, divide it"

"I can't stop thinking about that wine....that Rose you let me taste"

"So is it here yet, that more than Rose, Rose? I knew I was going to be in trouble working here with these Rose but that one? Man."

Expressions of elation from one of our newer staff members Brian Holowka who is experiencing his very first, "Summer of Sam" as it were, and was the lucky recipient of not one but two shared sample bottles of the Rose that is now haunting the both of us.

 

The 2013 Clos Marie Pic Saint Loup Rose is one sexy beast of a wine that I shall covet until the last of the 15 cases that I've begged for have vanished. At $18.99 a bottle I'm guessing that it won't fly like some of the less expensive and easier to swallow Roses do. Guessing is the same as hoping right? A very serious wine that drinks even better, if you can stand it, on day two than it does upon opening it, but in the interest of true confessions, I have greedily devoured the saturated fruit, wet stones, striations of spice, curvy mouth filling weight in one gloriously satisfying sitting. And I plan on doing it again and again. Too serious to just suck back, too sexy to ignore, this is a wine that works both your palate and your head and digs its impression on your tongue like a pair of slowly pulsating stiletto heels.  I am deeply in love with it, but by all means, feel free to just ignore it, deem it too pricy or just another pink wine. It has a place to go, a palate that is waiting, wanting and ready......

I have 15 cases on hold, ready to arrive at the first week of June, just in time, as I stated, for our annual Rose Fest but...part of me wants to exclude it from the event to feed my own need to be be spun and titillated, but also, I want those that are so inclined, the ones that drink like I do, taste like I do, let themselves be pulled under over and over again until they quit fighting and just let go, I want to make sure those people get a chance to taste it too....so um, what if I offer a wee bit of a discount to those who pull the trigger before the wine even gets here? Can't really sell what has already been sold now can I? 

Trust me? If you so, hit me up here, email, phone or on Facebook, or if you are more comfortable avoiding me, (and who could blame you really?!) all together you can simply go here, https://thewinecountry.com/ enter coupon code (you will see it at checkout) 10offclosmarie and you get this stunningly sexy Rose for $16.99 a bottle!

Not a huge reduction but it might stimulate you a bit, the wine, well the wine will finish you off. Only good for the 15 cases we have on order and offer expires the day the wine arrives June 2nd, (and I will be out of town so I can't save you any once they get here!) and seeing as we took half the allocation for the west coast...well you have been alerted, an warned.