Spanish Pink Delights

Founded in 1970 by Enrique Forner, Marqués de Cáceres is now run by his daughter, Cristina Forner, the fourth generation of the wine family. The bodega is located in the community of Cenicero in La Rioja Alta.

The 2024 Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Rosado is made from Tempranillo grapes. Earlier vintages had a splash of Garnacha Tinta. Alcohol clocks in at 13.5% abv and sells for around ten bucks. It isn't a terribly complex rosé, but it is quite tasty and ready to be chilled for picnics and barbecues.

This dependable rosé is a rich, pink salmon color, with a mineral-laden nose featuring lemon, strawberry, and cherry aromas. The palate is dry, fruity and laced with minerals. A good level of acidity provides for excellent food pairing and a refreshing demeanor on its own. There's a touch of orange peel on the finish. 

The wine is a great chilled sipper, but also pairs well with spring salads, summer grilling, or paella, if you're up to it. 

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Rosato From The Slopes Of Mt. Etna

I recently attended a wine event in Beverly Hills, a very informative master class on the Abruzzo region of Italy. The talk was delivered by Jeremy Parzen, a wine writer who never fails to capture the imagination in his Do Bianchi blog.

As it happened, my wife went shopping at Eataly while I was occupied, which meant I would miss out on one of my favorite shopping excursions, Italian wine. I asked her to pick up a couple of bottles for me. She asked, "What would you like?" I told her to go with her feelings. She didn't pick up any wine from Abruzzo, but that's okay since I was tasting plenty of it at Jeremy's event. One of the wines she selected was from Sicily.

The Benanti family pioneered Etna wine and today they make what respected reviewers call some of the best wines in Italy. They champion indigenous grapes like Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, and Carricante, and farm them under organic practices. 

The 2022 Benanti Etna Rosato was made from 100% Nerello Mascalese red grapes which were grown on the southeastern slope of the Mt. Etna volcano. After a cold maceration and a soft pressing, they were vinified in stainless steel tanks, then left to sit on their lees with no skin contact. Alcohol rests at 12.5% abv and the bottle cost $27 at Eataly in Los Angeles. 

This wine has a dusty rose color, darker than pink but lighter than red. The nose was a surprise, and not a particularly good one. There was hardly any fruit to speak of at all. The dominant aroma was a funky, barnyard sort of smell. On the palate there were flavors of cherry and Meyer lemon, with a savory overlay and a ton of salinity. If you can get past the first whiff, the taste is a treat. Mine paired very well with a spicy soppressata, some cheese, and an onion focaccia bread.

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Summer Wine: Chiaretto, Italian Rosé

Summer Wine: Drink Pink With Lula Cellars Rosato

Lula Cellars is an Anderson Valley winery named for the winemaker's maternal grandmother. She must have been quite something, as her description on the website offers a glowing tribute. "This remarkable woman raised three children by herself after the death of her husband, Frank. Her enduring inner strength, faith and love for her children helped guide her and her family through the most difficult of times, and she was an inspiration to all who knew her." I'd hope for something with about two percent of that feeling to be written about me after I'm gone - that would be praise enough.

The 2014 vintage of Lula Cellars’ Rosato is its fifth release of this dry-styled, Mendocino County rosé.  An unusual blend of Pinot Noir and Tempranillo, this wine is produced as a dry rosé; the juice is in contact with the skins for only four hours before fermentation.

Winemaker Jeff Hansen has worked nearly 30 vintages so he brings plenty of experience to the table. He produced only 300 cases of this wine. I was provided with a sample for the purpose of this article.

This pinkie looks more like a red, its brilliant ruby color tinged with a bit of orange. The aromas are fresh, with red cherry - stems and all - joining a floral note. Flavors seems bent more in Tempranillo's direction than Pinot's, cherry in front, spices and fantastic acidity in hot pursuit. There is a late hint of tea that hangs on into the finish, which is lengthy. Pair it with shrimp from the grill or, for brunch with a spinach omelet.


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Still Blazing Hot In L.A.: Italian Rosato Helps Out

A warm September Saturday evening, al fresco at Fabrocini’s Beverly Glen, one last rosé before the memory of summer slips away.  Aaah.

Wait a minute, who am I kidding?  It’s early September in Los Angeles.  The really hot weather hasn’t even gotten here yet.  October’s Santa Ana winds and brushfire hell still awaits.  Screw it.  I’ll have the rosé anyway.

Acquagiusta Rosato 2012 is made completely from Alicante grapes, harvested in the Levante Vineyard on the La Badiola estate right in the center of the Acquagiusta Farm in Maremma.  Alicante is also known as Garnacha Tintorea in Spain.  The farm is a 19th-century land management project initiated by the Grand Duke of Tuscany.  With a title like that, one might be expected to do a lot, but could also probably get away with doing very little.  I like to think this particular Grand Duke was a beehive of grand activity.  He was at least smart enough to name the farm after the underground spring located beneath his property.

The grapes of Levante Vineyard are described on the website as vigorous, rigorous and salubrious - descriptive in the peculiar way only a digitally translated text can be.  Alicante grapes are red through and through - not just in the skins - and this rosé is the result of an attempt to make a white wine with them.  They are gently and quickly pressed to minimize color extraction.

The effort to minimize the color leaves the wine a pale salmon tint.  The color may be minimized, but the smells are not.  Big strawberry and melon fruit aromas come forward, along with some of the green stems on which they grew.  There is a beautiful and refreshing acidity which joins the great fruit flavor - light and a bit tart, with a touch of watermelon candy.  The wine feels quite full in the mouth, owing to the vigorous, rigorous, salubrious nature of the Alicante grape.

It goes well with my penne and mushroom marinara.  So well, I’ll keep it mind for that late summer L.A. weather yet to come.


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