{"id":362,"date":"2010-03-30T09:43:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T13:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/2010\/03\/30\/rose\/"},"modified":"2010-03-30T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-30T13:43:58","slug":"rose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=362","title":{"rendered":"Rose"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most misunderstood wines in America is Rose.\u00a0 For many, it is \u201cWhite Zinfandel.\u201d\u00a0 For others it is the first wine they drank to excess when they were well under age.\u00a0 Do you remember sneaking into your parent\u2019s liquor stash and killing a bottle of Mateus?<\/em> Not particularly positive associations? <\/p>\n

True Rose is in fact red <\/em>wine, minus the structure, tannin and complexity in red wine.\u00a0 The skins (where the colour of red wine is derived) and the tannic elements of the grape (skins, pips and stems) are only kept with the juice a fraction of the time that would normally go into making a full fledged red wine.\u00a0 Just hours, not days and days.<\/p>\n

Typically the grapes are cold soak fermented so that flavours of the varietals can be absorbed before the alcohol conversion process takes place.\u00a0 In this way the wine will retain a delightful freshness and delicacy. Rose is being vinified for it\u2019s freshness and not its complexity. It is a wine that is best consumed young.<\/p>\n

It only takes a visit to the Western Mediterranean rim during the warm weather months to see how popular this wine is.\u00a0 It makes no matter where you are\u2026 Capri, the French Riviera, the Catalan Coast\u2026 look at any outdoor caf\u00e9, look on any table\u2026 what do you see?\u00a0 A bottle of Rose!\u00a0 And it makes no difference whether you are King or Commoner\u2026 the wine of summertime Europe is Rose.<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 It\u2019s served chilled.\u00a0 It\u2019s wonderfully refreshing.\u00a0 It goes with everything<\/em> that is on the menu.\u00a0 You can\u2019t lose.<\/p>\n

If you think that Rose is just Mateus and Lancers you are making a huge mistake.\u00a0 It\u2019s like thinking that all beer is Budweiser and Coors Light. Virtually all of the major wine producing areas of the world produce Rose to some level, and some areas specialize in it. In the Southern Rhone Tavel <\/strong>is known for their Rose.\u00a0 Made in blends that include Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvedre and Syrah it is considered the most structured of the Roses. The best of them, like the wines of Domaine Tempier<\/strong>, \u00a0<\/strong>will actually improve with short term cellaring.<\/p>\n

The Roses of Provence<\/strong> <\/strong>are simply a joy to drink. Made in a blends that offer pure expressions of the red varietals that we see throughout France\u2019s South.\u00a0 The most important grape is Grenache. Beautiful florals with red fruit charm, reasonably priced, make the wines from here the most consumed summer wine in France.<\/p>\n

If you stop at a caf\u00e9 along the Champs Elysee, the wine you sip will most probably be a Rose D\u2019Anjou from the Loire Valley (Provence being too far removed to suit Parisians). The grapes used here, Gamay, and Groslot, lend a distinctive zesty fruitiness to their wines.<\/p>\n

The success of Rose can not be contained within one country\u2019s borders.\u00a0 Along Italy\u2019s Adriatic Coast you will find Cerasuolo d\u2019Abruzzo<\/strong> made from the Region\u2019s renown Montepulciano grape.<\/p>\n

In Spain it might be a Rose of Tempranillo<\/strong>, in Argentina\u2019s Mendoza it might be a Rose of Malbec<\/strong>, and in Australia\u2019s Barossa it might be a Rose of Shiraz<\/strong>. In Napa it might be a Rose of Cabernet or, even more exciting<\/em>, we can find practitioners of the blending arts like Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard<\/strong>. His blended Vin Gris de Cigare Rose, stands alongside of Robert Sinsky\u2019s Pinot Noir based Rose as one of California\u2019s best entries into the class.<\/p>\n

Getting the picture?\u00a0 Name the Country, name the Region\u2026 find a Rose.<\/p>\n

And while it\u2019s easy to paint<\/em> a picture of blue skies, puffy white clouds, soft breezes, an azure sea in the background\u2026 and a glass of Rose in the foreground\u2026 <\/em>there is more to Rose than summer sunshine.<\/p>\n

The wine can be truly enjoyed on a year \u2018round basis. For the traditional \u201cred wine lover\u201d, it becomes their \u201cwhite wine.\u201d\u00a0 For the traditional \u201cwhite wine lover\u201d, it becomes their \u201cred wine.\u201d Always excellent with spicy cuisine, a natural with ham and grilled poultry and a wine that can add to any festive Holiday table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most misunderstood wines in America is Rose.\u00a0 For many, it is \u201cWhite Zinfandel.\u201d\u00a0 For others it is the first wine they drank to excess when they were well under age.\u00a0 Do you remember sneaking into your parent\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}