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Summmer-time, and sippin’ rosé is easy… fish are jumpin’… and the cotton is high.
OK, bastardizing George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess intro may be a déclassé way to introduce a high summer homage to the pink-blush stepchild of both red and white wine. Times change. “One of these mornings you’re going to rise up singing, then you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky.” And so it has been with rosé.
In the past decade-plus rosé has risen from wine sipped by m’lady on her fainting couch or slurped by repressed soccer moms in surreptitious soirées, with ice cubes bobbing in their fully filled ice tea glasses (yes, I am looking at you, closet white zinfandel drinkers). You did what you had to do.
This is the middle of the third decade of the 21st century. Today, rosé is recognized as a real wine category that can unabashedly be enjoyed by manly men and girlie girls and all the silly permutations in between. Cash register receipts affirm it.
While wines in general have treaded sales waters in recent years, rosé wines have been on a consistent rise. US rosé sales increased in volume 1,433% from 2010 to 2020, and has only barely slowed in the recent years of the current wine sales retreat.
To the ecstatic delight of makers, most of the rise is attributable to to Gen Z and Millennials, the very consumers that desperate, salivating wine promoters pursue. Rosé is Cinderella. Once shunned by burly, brusque red wine brothers and haughty, condescending white wine sisters, rosé bided its time until the vicissitudes of fashion inevitably caused trendsetters to frantically scour for the “next big thing.” And there was rosé—the blessed bridge between red and white—and the answer to a winemaker’s prayer.
Like white wine, rosé is a fast turnaround product. One, two years, sold. Reds are so much more lumbering, taking years—ye, gods, sometimes almost a decade—before they reach their sellable state. Gimlet-eyed bankers avariciously grasping winery loan notes are not noted for patience or understanding.
The rosé rise particularly is attributable to a shift away from the treacly sweet by-product of red wine production in the past. Such plonk was never mainstream, but it was effervescently successful when American wine drinkers were toddling neophytes just beginning their journey into the universe of the serious, dry wine most common today. Dry rosé is real, serious wine. It is the most common rosé wine you can purchase. Dry rosés are delectably versatile wines that can work just as well as an aperitif for giddy ingenues as for pompous panjandrums of pairing facing an eclectic cornucopia of food courses.
Rosé’s time has come. If alive today, Porgy and Bess would be sipping it on their veranda while celebrating the recent rise in their 401K portfolio. The fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.
Tasting notes
• H&B Provence Rosé 2023: Delicate delight, very nice Provence rosé managed in a somewhat testing year. Fruit-forward, fresh, subtle herb and minerality. It received praise as being a quality wine that achieved better than its vintage peers. Excellent if not exceptional. But excellent in a Provence rosé is no faint praise. $20 https://www.gusclemensonwine.com/hb-provence-rose-2023/#more-20437
• Domaine St. Laurent Rosé de Pinot Noir Block One Rouge Valley, Oregon 2023: Delicate, elegant, showcases light red fruits. Versatile, easily can be enjoyed on its own or paired with lighter fare. Tad more substantial than typical Provence efforts, but reflects that tradition. $25 https://www.gusclemensonwine.com/domaine-st-laurent-rose-de-pinot-noir-block-one-rouge-valley-oregon-2023/#more-20675
• Luc Belaire Rare Rosé Sparkling NV, France: A top-selling sparkling rosé in the U.S. Faint sweetness, restrained acidity, and delicious strawberry flavor make it a crowd pleaser. $30 https://www.gusclemensonwine.com/luc-belaire-rare-rose-sparkling-nv-france/#more-20672
• Dutcher Crossing Grace Reserve Russian River Valley Brut Rosé NV: Very brisk with significant acidity backbone supporting fresh raspberry, strawberry, and cranberry fruit notes. Depth and complexity from 20 months bottle aging on the lees. Sophisticated effort with power and attitude. No wimp pink sparkling this. $59 https://www.gusclemensonwine.com/dutcher-crossing-grace-reserve-russian-river-valley-brut-rose-nv/#more-20502
Last round
Two young boys are at their first wedding. One turns to the other and asks: “So, how many wives can a man have?”
Second boy: “Apparently it is 16. Four better. Four worse. Four richer. Four poorer. And you gotta put up with them in sickness and in health until you die. Jeez!”
Wine time.
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Links worth exploring
Diary of a Serial Hostess Ins and outs of entertaining; witty anecdotes of life in the stylish lane.
As We Eat Multi-platform storytelling explores how food connects, defines, inspires.
Dave McIntyre’s WineLine Longtime Washington Post wine columnist now on Substack. Entertaining, informative.
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