It’s rosé season. Again. Still. Because nowadays rosé is with us almost year round.
And, if you ever did need an excuse to drink rosé you certainly don’t now. It’s the perfect partner for seafood, especially for spot prawns currently in season. Plus, it’s the ideal patio sipper.
Currently you can find an excellent selection of rosé on local shelves as both B.C. and Provence wines are plentiful. Both at home and in France 2015 was a very warm year, resulting in early harvests and requiring winemakers to move quickly to capture the acids and clean fruit flavours they needed.
A recent Provence tasting yielded wines that are fresh and lively, showing that the wineries’ efforts to pick in time paid off. Alain Bacchino, president of Wines of Provence, says the very warm summer resulted in everything ripening all at once, with a harvest that usually runs from mid August to mid October arriving on Aug. 20. It’s a scenario that happened also in B.C., and is likely to reoccur this year, if not even earlier.
Coteaux Varois Terres de St. Louis 2015: Pale pink salmon hue with lifted citrus nose, followed by zesty and nectarine notes with good acidity on a fresh palate (90 points, BCLS $19).
Cabaret Cotes de Provence Rosé 2015 (Grenache, Cinsault, 70/30) from Mistral wind-swept Mont St. Victoire is pretty and pale rose-coloured with light peach and stonefruit on the nose, good mouthfeel, citrus hints. Good value at 90 points (BCLS $20).
Pure Mirabeau Cotes de Provence Rosé 2015 (Grenache/Syrah 60/40) from clay and limestone soils, fruit-driven with red fruit, such as raspberry and cranberry wrapped in mineral notes on a quite full-bodied, juicy palate and lingering spicy finish (91 points, BCLS $29).
In B.C., those who didn’t pick at the right time paid the price. Or, as Joie Farm’s Heidi Noble says: “We earned our stripes in 2015.”
Tasting across the board reveals a wide range of expressions and varieties. A few B.C. rosé producers still seem determined to pay tribute to the legacy of white Zinfandel, which, to put it mildly, is not exactly inspiring.
However, those B.C. wineries who’ve made rosé a priority are much more inclined to a drier, far more food-friendly wine, with a definite nod to Provence’s lighter style. It just makes sense with our cuisine style, especially when it comes to seafood.
50th Parallel Pinot Noir Rosé 2015: From the northern shores of Okanagan Lake. Hints of melon and red berries on the nose followed by a bright strawberry and pomegranate palate with a dry, crisp and clean end with a lingering savoury element (90 points, $19).
JoieFarm Rosé 2015: This wine has become a fixture, in part because Joie was at the fore of the rosé revival with their “Think Pink” moniker. The winery says its inspiration for this Pinot Noir (70 per cent) and Gamay (30 per cent) blend comes from the Loire Valley around Sancerre and Anjou. The wine lives up to its name with a vibrant pink colour. And it’s very much helping the move to a drier style (91 points, $19).
Tim Pawsey writes about wine for numerous publications and online as the Hired Belly at hiredbelly.com. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
