Obligatory National Rosé Day Post! 🌹
Apparently, today is National Rosé Day! This is a good thing because we didn’t have a bottle of wine open at the time and hearing this news helped make our decision on what to open a little easier! Of course, we had to celebrate by taking a peek into our little wine fridge in search of a rosé to have in celebration. Surprisingly, the only rosé we had was a bottle of New York Fucking Wine…a “2020 Amorici Field Blend” by our friends at Wild Arc in the Hudson Valley. The juice is a darker, almost purple-burgundy color and not your typical light pink rosé! Despite it’s darker color, it is most certainly a rosé by definition. So…this got us thinking….what IS rosé? And would a rosé by any other color taste as sweet?
So now….we have a National Rosé Day post. This was NOT planned. However, if the timing fits then FUGGIT!
We learned that there is no “rosé grape!” Rosé is all about the process and there are multiple ways of making a rosé happen. To get this right, we pulled out a couple books! One is “Wine. All the Time.” By Marissa Ross and the other is “Natural Wine: An Introduction to Organic and Biodynamic Wines Made Naturally” by Isabelle Legeron. (You can click on the links to purchase and learn more!)
Here are the four ways rosé is made:
Making wine in the same method as red, skins ON, but shortening the time of skin maceration. This typically leads to a lighter color.
Blending red wines with white wines.
Using a method called “Saignée Method”: the rosé is made in the same way as a red wine. However, early in the fermentation process the juice is bled out and skimmed, lessening the concentration of the red coloring in the juice.
Adding some shit to your wine that strips the red wine of its color. (We are pretty sure this is a NO-NO in the natural wine-making process.)
This Wild Arc Amorici Field Blend is a blend of a dozen different varietals of red and white grapes, all grown in Washington County in New York…therefore it IS, technically, a rosé! According to their distributor’s website, Jenny and Francois, the coloring of this vintage is darker than it typically is because the vineyards lost a LOT of their white wine grapes this year due to early frost and birds. A larger amount of red wine grapes were used, therefore leading to the darker color. However, despite its darker and mysterious shade, the wine is still light and fruity! Tart red berries, dry, a little bit of acidity, and a super clean finish! And at a 10.5% ABV, this wine is SUUUUPER chuggable. Very delicious!
While we sip on this bottle, we also reflect on other rosés that we’ve had in the past….rosés that may be a little more rosé-y than this one. (Only if we’re making up rules on this, of course!)
“2015 Tickled Pink” by Clos Saron: We grabbed this bottle from our friends at Good Luck Wine Shop in Pasadena and were SO delighted! This rosé would be my textbook definition of what a rosé is, if there were such a thing! This vintage was a co-fermentation of Syrah/Graciano/Viognier, a blend of red and white wine grapes. Bubble gum on the nose and light watermelon juice in the mouth, a lingering candy caramel finish. You can find their 2016 vintage here! (Also, if you go NOW, I believe our friends at Melody Bar in Silverlake currently have this new vintage on deck.)
“2018 Himmel auf Erden” Rosé by Christian Tschida: This 100% Cabernet Franc rosé had some sparkle to it! A little bit of fizz which reminded me of strawberry pop rocks in a glass. So fun! I loved it so much that I was excited to try the most recent vintage. However, it was SO different! The newer vintage had a more sophisticated taste to it and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I preferred it! The strawberry pop rocks flavor brought me back to my childhood, which I just really loved about it.
What we’ve learned is that rosé can be so much more dynamic than your basic Whispering Angel. It makes us feel electric and pink, as the photo here conveys. (Also, we matchy-matchy with H.E.R. during her 2020 Honda Civic Tour that our very own Tara and Drew visually conveyed so beautifully. This still is SO rosé!) Whatever the color, method, or varietal, prepare to be amazed at how different a rosé can be. (At least, in the natural wine world!) They are every bit as fun and adventurous and unique as you can ever imagine.
