Special Focus - Rosé Reborn

Liner & Elsen Special Focus:

July 2005

"No wine complements warm weather food better than a chilled glass of dry rosé... I will go out on a limb and declare that the world's top rosés can convey terroir just as vividly as their white and red siblings."

ROSÉ REBORN

by Peter Gibson

The stigma has vanished, the customers are demanding it, and rosé is reborn!

The latter half of the twentieth century was a tough ride for fine rosé wine and its devotees. Many of you can recall when Mateus and Lancers were the market choice for rosé in the 1960s and early '70s. As the fashion waned, the so-called "white" Zinfandel craze began. While neither of these fads offered what we wine lovers would call "fine wine," their success left in the minds of many wine consumers a tarnished image of the wonderful and versatile dry rosé.

In the mid-1980s, when I began to taste and study wine in earnest, rosé was a guilty pleasure. Wine enthusiasts who enjoyed fine, dry rosé on hot summer evenings had to defend against insults ranging from jovial barbs about their lack of taste and "connoisseurship" to churlish attacks questioning their manhood. Rosé had a long, uphill battle with popular perception before it re-established its good and rightful reputation.

Much of the credit for rosé's recent rise in popularity and recognition must go to those loyal proponents who defied the prevailing tastes of the time and professed their love for rosé during its nadir in the 1980s. On the merchant side credit Kermit Lynch, who brought to America Domaine Tempier's great Bandol rosé and several other terrific examples, despite finding them difficult to sell and thereby incurring serious financial risk. Among wine journalists, rosé lovers must raise their glass to Robert Parker who often wrote about Tavel, Bandol and other fine southern French rosés in The Wine Advocate and even praised them with inclusion in his 1987 tome, The Wines of the Rhône Valley and Provençe . Finally, from the American winemaker perspective, kudos must be extended to Bonny Doon Vineyards' Randall Grahm, who studied the great southern French rosés and fashioned his own, Vin Gris de Cigare, from California fruit in homage to his beloved French benchmarks.

Yet rosé carries another unfortunate burden. Many feel that rosé cannot be called a serious wine because it doesn't gain complexity from bottle aging as do the vast majority of the world's other great wines. To this assertion, I must demur. I believe that rosé is indeed a serious wine in that its purpose is not to repay long aging. The duty of a great rosé is to refresh and revive the spirit during the long summer months when Montrachet and Margaux would prostrate from the heat, rather than transcend it.

The greatest proponents of rosé are the southern French. Inherently and culturally red wine drinkers, the French need something approaching a red wine to enjoy during the torrid summer months. Over the course of centuries they have learned that fresh, cool rosé from the most recent harvest gives them enough red wine character while also providing refreshment that no red wine can possibly offer. They don't pull any punches: they scoff at the notion of drinking anything but the youngest, freshest rosé - from their region, of course! They know from experience that rosé tastes most delicious in the summer months that follow the prior year's harvest. By October it has often lost its verve and vibrancy.

Whether here or in Europe, no wine complements warm weather food better than a chilled glass of dry rosé. Thanks to modern vinification and refrigerated transport, I would venture with a modicum of certainty that today's rosés are as compelling as they've ever been. And, quite honestly, there aren't many wine categories or regions about which I would I would make that statement. I also will go out on a limb and declare that the world's top rosés can convey terroir just as vividly as their white and red siblings. I offer the Chinon below as evidence.

Thanks to our increased appreciation for rosé, specialty importers are now getting the wines to us in time for early summer enjoyment, rather than later in the season as in times past. Not only are the wines fresher but we now have the entire summer to try as many rosés as we can source and serve! All the stars are in alignment: the 2004s are upon us and they're the finest, freshest and most exhilarating lot of rosés that I can recall the pleasure of tasting. If you still haven't discovered the charms of fine rosé, this is about as good a chance as I can conceive.

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This month I have selected three rosés that I particularly enjoy and feel represent well their regions and the breadth of styles that rosé wines can convey. In addition to the three below, I would also like to recommend the 2004 Château Jean-Pierre Gaussen Bandol rosé that's featured in this month's L&E newsletter. Mix a case, and you have the beginnings of a perfect summer patio gathering. Invite friends, pull corks, light grill, kick back, relax and enjoy. This is what summer is all about.

2004 Domaine de Fontsainte, Gris de Gris, Corbières, Languedoc, France 11.50/123.00 **

The Domaine de Fontsainte is one of the staples of Kermit Lynch's venerable portfolio. Fontsainte's rosé (a bend of 40% Grenache Gris, 30% Carignan and 30% Cinsault) is grown on the varied clay, limestone and sandstone terroirs of the Corbières region, in the center of the Languedoc region in southern France. The 2004 Fontsainte rosé is a lovely pale salmon color in the glass, and its nose and palate lean to the fruitier side of the rosé continuum. The nose expresses a fresh strawberry bouquet infused with a faint hint of southern French garrigue . The succulent palate begins with soft cherry and strawberry fruit before tightening on the back-palate with firm acidity and a lashing of minerally terroir. The finish reprises notes of berry fruit and dried herbs. The 2004 Fontsainte has a great tactile grip and is especially clean and precise this vintage. It is a classic southern French rose and a fine partner for ratatouille , grilled summer squashes, salmon and chicken. It also drinks well all by itself.

2004 Alois Lageder, Lagrein Rosé, Alto Adige, Italy 13.50/144.50 **

Lagrein is a well-pigmented red varietal grown in the Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy. As a rosé, its highly pigmented skins make for an impressively deep and well-colored wine. Unlike many rosés that lean to the pink end of the spectrum, the color of Lageder's Lagrein is akin to that of a ripe pie cherry. The nose is highly perfumed and appetizing, offering the scents of kirsch, tamari, dried herbs and minerals. The palate is dry and incisive with a resinous and appetizing pomegranate-like bitter note intermingling with a finishing suggestion of bay leaf. This is the boldest and most powerful rosé in the 2004 class, and it's best paired with hearty summer dishes that would normally call for a red wine. Grilled burgers, eggplant, marinated Portobello mushrooms and summer risotto are especially recommended.

2004 J.M. Raffault, Chinon Rosé, Loire Valley, France
11.99/128.00 **

Who says rosé can't express terroir ? One sniff of this 100% Cabernet Franc wonder and you'll be transported to the limestone and gravel soils of the Touraine. Loire Valley geeks can split hairs as they debate whether the wine could only come from Chinon, or if it could possibly have emerged from neighboring Bourgueil. I suspect that they'll finish the bottle before they can decide. The 2004 Raffault's color is medium salmon with a beautiful hint of peach. The wine conveys its soil and its varietal character in the first sniff. The perfumed limestone soil mixes and mingles with the herbal, tobacco qualities of a great Chinon. The wine's palate attack is dry and gripping, with the limestone and gravelly minerals seemingly dissolved in the wine's strawberry and watermelon fruit. A smoky, menthol nuance on the back-palate adds to the wine's complexity. The Raffault finishes crisp, dry and firm. This is serious, varietal-driven, terroir -driven, food friendly rosé that will pair nicely with grilled salmon, ahi tuna, chicken, squashes and pork.

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Peter Gibson has spent twenty years as an avid wine taster and enthusiast, during which he has written, taught and consulted about wine, traveled extensively to European and American wine regions, and devoted time to winemaking at Domaine Drouhin Oregon and at home in Portland, Oregon.

** Please contact L&E for current pricing and availability.