Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Pink Day

Okay Guys, I don't mean to alienate you, but honestly it has been a pink day. The layout that made the most sense for WineFine had a red wine colored header, but all of the pinkness on the edges cannot be ignored. I also received a bonus buy treat today in the form of a Pink Veuve Clicquot Rose City Traveller. I believe that I read somewhere that Louis Vuitton designed these insulated fashionable champagne carriers for the house of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. VCP is my non vintage champagne of choice, I think because it was the first champagne that gave me a glimpse of how good it can be, and the yellow trademark color is synonymous with the name, but the pink I just had to try. The tasting will have to wait, but I love the fact that fashion has been married with wine and that brings me to another matter that must be addressed. My sister has a blog that you should visit if you have even a remote interest in fashion. She also happens to be a philosopher and in my opinion has the best sense of humor. If you would like to see how all of these elements can be reconciled, by all means, visit her blog: http://e3p2s.blogspot.com/

I did however taste something else pink tonight, Maggie Harrison's Antica Terra 2008 Rose. This is her first year making the rose since she relocated to the Willamette Valley in Oregon to grow and make pinot noir. She has a very interesting background and I would recommend doing some research on her. She has an interview on graperadio.com and an interesting article on avalonwines.com. Antica Terra can be purchased direct from their website anticaterra.com or  from Story Teller Wine Co. at storytellerwine.com. Anyway, I opened the Rose and drank it with a dinner of pizza with rice crust, due to my daughter's gluten intolerance, and cantaloupe. Sorry Maggie if it was far from what you had envisioned your drinkers to experience, but I am still fathoming what has just happened to me. I am an inexperienced rose drinker and it surprised me how earthy this wine tasted. I thought it would be closer to a white and in many ways it has white wine qualities, but there are most definitely the red pinot traits that come through. Oh, I should mention that there was some sediment in the bottle which I would not have expected in a lighter wine and the alcohol content was 14.5 %. The color is pink to strawberry in color and matched the cantaloupe despite the fact that I did not assess the ripeness correctly. The borderline unripeness actually matched the aforementioned earthiness. Does this sound like a disaster? It wasn't. I am just glad that I have two more of the bottles to experience at another time. Any suggestions on food pairings anyone? Ideal glass shape? Ideal temperature?
While we are on the subject of pink I should mention a brut rose that is a really good cost to quality value; Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut Rose NV. Last years NV disappeared around New Years time, but I just saw this year's at a local shop recently. It has a beautiful salmon color and is crisp with fine bubbles. You should not expect to pay more than $22. 
Okay guys, if you have not given up on this site altogether, I had a full circle kind of experience that brought me back to my Humboldt days. When I was visiting the Commerce Corner on wineberserkers.com there was a members only offering from Cabot Vineyards that was offering a Syrah called "Bacon Fat."

How is that for masculine?

Mel


3 comments:

  1. i became a rose drinker from the last several summers living in hot climates. as you indicated yesterday, it's just too much to drink red wine on a hot day. but i'm less a fan of whites (though, of course, there are some interesting ones. this reminds me--there is a white i just tried that i'll have to get the name of to tell you about). so, i shifted to rose and liked the lighter body, with the still interesting flavors. rose actually shows a pretty broad range. i had a french rose right at the start of spring this year that was surprisingly think in body, and almost syrupy to drink. it also had an incredible range of spice in flavor. i believe i still have the empty bottle at home and will tell you the name when i get back to the house.

    i highly recommend the Bellefon Brut Rose Champagne. It's excellent--around $45/50 for the regular size bottle; $28 for the half. I was hooked on the half bottle and was drinking one every couple of days but forced myself to shift to a glass of Adelsheim Pinot Noir Rose, which is a quite drinkable, rich tasting wine, still refreshing for the weather. I've had to pair it with a bottle of sparkling water on the side though, cause I'm so dang hooked on the bubbles.

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  2. ha! i meant "thick" in body up there. but i like the idea that wine can be THINK in body too. that seems right to me.

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  3. the rose i referred to earlier: Tavel Canto Perdrix 2005

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