Seasonal Varietals: Dog Summer Rosés

[blue_dolphin]

I hope @Rebel Rose will be back to join us and help facilitate some more discussion, but I thought that in the meantime, I might get us started on our next topic.  Per the list outlined in this post it's Dog Summer Rosés.   

 

I only have cats, no dogs so I'm not entirely sure of the meaning of "Dog Summer."  From this article, What Are the Dog Days of Summer? I learned that the dog days of summer got that name from the period when Sirius, the dog star, rises and sets with the sun, a time that generally coincides with the hottest days of summer in July and August.  We may be a little late, but I'll share some of the rosés that I drank during the official dog days of summer and will continue into the fall.   

 

Hopefully you'll join me so we can find some new rosés to try.   Who's drinking what?

 

 

From right to left:

The Chateau la Tour de l'Eveque rosé from Provence is one I purchase at Total Wine. It's $17.99 at my store.  It's a blend of 53% Cinsault, 15% Syrah, 14% Grenache, 9% Mourvèdre, 7% Ugni Blanc, 2% Rolle. Lovely pale salmon color with crisp, but delicate flavors.  I started buying this a couple of years ago when it was ~ $12 with Total Wine's 6-bottle discount but the price jumped a few dollars this year.  Not sure if that's due to import tariffs or what.  It makes me feel elegant to sip this one.

 

The Trader Joe's Petit Reserve Napa Rosé @ $5.99 and per the Fearless Flyer, it's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petite Verdot, and Cab Franc. It's a pretty pink, very fruity but still dry and crisp.  I feel playful when I drink this.

 

Tavel, in the Rhone region of France is the only appellation devoted entirely to rosés.  This Reserve des Chastelles Tavel Rosé is also from Trader Joes @ $8.99.  It's a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Cinsault and 15% Syrah and has a deep rose color and complex flavors that go with dishes that might also be served with a light red.  IMHO, this compares well with Tavels sold elsewhere in the $20 + price range.  It's a good rosé to take into the cooler weather.  I feel serious when I drink this. 

 

On the far left, is the Trader Joe's Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine.  This stuff is sold around the holidays @ $9.99 when I drink it with abandon and then hoard the last bottles of it throughout the rest of the year.  It's excellent.  I love to bring it to parties or pull out a bottle to celebrate almost anything with my friends.  Very few gatherings this year means I've got almost a case left and we should be seeing a new allotment in a few months so I plan to treat myself to a few more "champagne" brunches with this stuff.  I highly recommend picking up some of this when and if you see it.  It makes me feel like celebrating when I drink this. 

 

 

[Smithy]

Nice writeup, @blue_dolphin. I feel inspired when I read the descriptions.

 

I'll have to go look for some of these the next time I hit a wine shop. I got away from rosés years ago because I tend to associate them with sweet wines, but of course we know they aren't necessarily. I still remember my sense of sophistication when, in college, I graduated from Mateus to Lancer's. Oh my, how grown up we felt!  Over the years I've tried the occasional blush wine and they can be nice, but I haven't really explored them.

[weinoo]

We drank a lot of rosé this summer, but I don't think I took a lot of notes or pictures.

[kayb]

I wish I could find the shot of the label I took of the wonderful rose we drank with dinner in Lexington, VA, a couple of years ago. That was also a phone ago, so I don't think it's still around. But it was my return to roses.

 

Last Thanksgiving, I bought a La Crema rose to go with dinner. It was wonderful. 

 

I will also note the Bota Box rose is respectable. I don't have one one hand right now so can't tell you the particulars.

[FauxPas]

7 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

On the far left, is the Trader Joe's Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine.  This stuff is sold around the holidays @ $9.99 when I drink it with abandon and then hoard the last bottles of it throughout the rest of the year.  It's excellent.

 

I think I've had this one before and I also really enjoyed it! Back in Canada for the foreseeable future so can't access a Trader Joe's now, unfortunately.  

[Nyleve Baar]

My favourite inexpensive rose - available in Ontario (LCBO Vintages) - apologies if the picture is gigantic. Can't figure out how to make it smaller. Delicious and $15.95.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

Nice writeup, @blue_dolphin. I feel inspired when I read the descriptions.

 

I'll have to go look for some of these the next time I hit a wine shop. I got away from rosés years ago because I tend to associate them with sweet wines, but of course we know they aren't necessarily. I still remember my sense of sophistication when, in college, I graduated from Mateus to Lancer's. Oh my, how grown up we felt!  Over the years I've tried the occasional blush wine and they can be nice, but I haven't really explored them.

 

Thanks!  These are all dry and go nicely with food, so it might be worth exploring to see if you can find some you like.  These exact bottles may not be available but I'm sure you can find a dry rosé from Provence that would be similar to the Chateau la Tour de l'Eveque, a brighter, fruity, but still crisp rosé from the US and/or a Tavel t compare. 

 

14 hours ago, kayb said:

Last Thanksgiving, I bought a La Crema rose to go with dinner. It was wonderful. 

Thanks for the tip! I see my local BevMo has the La Crema so I will check that out.  Their price is $16.99.  

 

12 hours ago, Nyleve Baar said:

My favourite inexpensive rose - available in Ontario (LCBO Vintages) - apologies if the picture is gigantic. Can't figure out how to make it smaller. Delicious and $15.95.

Both of the shops, K & L and Hi-Time Wine Cellars, that I occasionally order from for delivery, carry that Muga Rioja Rosado so I will certainly try it.  These tasting notes on the K & L listing make it sound delicious, indeed! 

[Chris Hennes]

I seem to recall a sparkling brut rosé out of New Mexico that I've enjoyed several times in the past. Gruet, maybe? I'll have to check to see if my local wine shop has it.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Chris Hennes said:

I seem to recall a sparkling brut rosé out of New Mexico that I've enjoyed several times in the past. Gruet, maybe? I'll have to check to see if my local wine shop has it.

 

[Chris Hennes]

The label isn't ringing any bells, but it's pretty generic. A search doesn't yield any other promising results, so I'd guess that's the one I'm remembering.

[chefmd]

Lovely CA rose that to me tasted like strawberries.  Here is the winery description 

Always an elegant pink color with he vibrant and fresh aromas offering floral tones, strawberry, subtle hints of spice. On the palate the wine is elegant; balancing ripe, light red-berry fruit and vibrant, crisp acidity. The finish is fresh and should provide a wonderful accompaniment to a range of dishes. 

[Chris Hennes]

Yes, it was indeed the Gruet that I was thinking of, my local store even had it chilled:

 

It's quite dry, with good mineral character and minimal fruit. I think it was $16 at my local store, and I've run across it at restaurants in this part of the country in the sub-$40 range, so I think it's a really excellent value if you are looking for fizz.

[Chris Hennes]

In the non-sparkling realm, I also picked up a bottle of Ensédune Cabernet Franc. I wasn't all that impressed with this bottle, it felt a little "generic white" to me. Some light berry notes, some light floral notes, but mostly not that interesting. Fortunately, the environs made up for it (we stayed the night at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma... what passes for an exciting vacation in 2020).

[kayb]

@Chris Hennes -- I love that building. I'm going to go back there and stay one day. Is the little FLW museum still on the bottom floor?

 

Here's the aforementioned Bota Box dry rose:

 

 

Mea culpa, @weinoo, for the stemless wineglass. Stemmed ones seem to get knocked over and broken 'round these parts.

 

Bota Box says this has grapefruit and raspberry notes. I don't taste raspberry, but I most assuredly taste grapefruit zest, and I get a note of peaches at the first sip. It has a minerally finish and a tartness that sits well on my tongue. And at less than $5 a bottle at my local discount liquor store, you can't beat the price.

 

Jeff Siegel at the Wine Curmudgeon called it "the best cheap rose there is," here. It's not the best rose' I've ever had; La Crema is better, but it's three times the price, too. 

 

I did find the pic of the label of the rose I loved so much that I had in Lexington, VA, last year. My local liquor stores, both the discount one and the "good wine and beer" one, tell me they can't get it here. Sigh. My recollection is that it was absolutely astounding with Coquille St. Jacques, still one of my favorite seafood dishes.

 

*

If you find it, get it. It's wonderful.

 

[Alex]

Please forgive the out-of-focus picture; I usually snap better than that.

 

First up is an inexpensive ($7.19 after half-case discount) 2019 Famille Perrin Rosé, a CDR blend. (The Perrin family owns Château Beaucastel.) Orange-y pink in the glass, it's not just fruit-forward, but fruit-in-your-face. A quick hit of berry (mostly strawberry) gives way to a sort of generic tropical fruit (Ms. Alex thought mostly mango), followed by a weird and unexpected but not entirely unpleasant finish of coconut. This would be a more than acceptable porch rosé.

 

 

[Alex]

Then there's the $17.99 2019 Ch. Puech-Haut Argali Rosé, from the Languedoc, 60% Grenache, 40% Cinsault. Very pale pink, it led off with mixed red fruit and, per Ms. Alex, a bit of apricot, with a nice mineral finish. Its acidity made it a much better accompaniment for food (in this case, penne with tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, pine nuts, and raisins).

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Alex (log)

[scamhi]

these are the roses I am drinking in rotation. I don't include rose champagne because I don't drink it too often and love it.

[weinoo]

@scamhi - how do you like the Rioja's age; were you able to drink it younger and has it changed a lot? Great choices there.

 

 

 

We drank this the other night...https://www.domaine-ilarria.fr/les-vins/

 

It's very delicious.

Edited September 10, 2020 by weinoo (log)

[Paul Bacino]

16 hours ago, scamhi said:

these are the roses I am drinking in rotation. I don't include rose champagne because I don't drink it too often and love it.

steller line up

 

[scamhi]

@weinoo the 2010 is the new release from Lopez and to my taste it can age way longer but is super enjoyable right now

[chefmd]

Pinot Grigio Ramato.  It went beautifully with miso marinated cod that we had for dinner.

Ramato is a historical style of producing Pinot Grigio in the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region of Italy, where Pinot Grigio has been grown for hundreds of years,’ said Kirk Peterson, a writer, educator and certified Italian wine ambassador in the US.

Traditionally, the wines that exhibited colour were derived from contact with Pinot Grigio’s pigmented skins.

‘It was made in this style up until the 1960s, when producer Santa Margherita began exporting Pinot Grigio in the style most consumers are familiar with today”

[MassWineGuy]

I also love the Trader Joe’s North Coast Brut, both rose and white crazy deal at $10.