Drink Pink: Dolin Rosé Of Malibu

Malibu made its name long ago as one of the wealthiest places for surf and sun.  A bottle of SPF 50 sunscreen and a long board strapped to the top of your van will provide you with some great fun - until the sets stop rolling in or the security guards chase you off the private beach, whichever comes first.  When the fun is over, the fun's not really over.  There is always wine.

Wine is easy to find in Malibu.  It's in all the restaurants and there are a couple of tasting rooms along PCH.  Up in the hills, a bit off the surfboard beat, there are vines, thousands of them.  Malibu has over four dozen vineyards and is now enjoying its recently approved status as a bona fide American Viticultural Area, or AVA.

Elliott Dolin has spent time both as a professional musician and as a real estate investor.  He never really gave any thought to making wine.  In 2006 he and his wife planted an acre of Chardonnay vines in their expansive backyard - they simply thought a vineyard would look nice on the hillside.  Quickly, Dolin’s passing fancy became a focal point of his life.

Dolin’s winemaker Kirby Anderson is a non-interventionist in the winery, the better to showcase the characteristics of the vineyard.  He says Dolin’s Malibu fruit speaks for itself.  "I try to always keep my emotions in check when making wine," he says, "but the potential of the Dolin Vineyard is so tremendous that I can't help but get excited."

The fine folks at Jarvis Communications provided this wine for the purpose of review.

The 2012 Dolin Malibu Estate Rosé is 100% Central Coast Pinot Noir, carries an alcohol content of 13.5% abv and is contained under natural cork.  One-third of the pink wine spent 8 months in neutral oak, while two-thirds stayed in stainless steel after fermentation in same.

This rosé has melon and berry on the nose, with a shade of green showing.  A nice cherry flavor appears with a bit of candy, but a strong herbal presence balances the fruit.  Food pairings will abound with the lovely, fresh acidity, and the hint of green on the finish underscores the savory aspect.  Leave it open for a while, and it starts to show a delightful bit of funk.


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Holiday Wine 2014: Cornerstone Cellars

A series on wines for the holidays.

At a recent wine event in Los Angeles, Cornerstone Cellars’ managing partner Craig Camp spoke to me, as eloquently as always, about his Cornerstone wines and the great vineyard sites from which they harvest grapes.  He also mentioned something near and dear to my heart.  Rosé wine.

He agrees that pink wine need not be a summer-only event.  In fact, he stated specifically how great his Corallina rosé is with Thanksgiving turkey.  To that I can only add, it is even better with those leftover turkey sandwiches on Black Friday.  That one, plus a few more holiday essential wines from Cornerstone follow.

2013 Corallina by Stepping Stone  $25
This is one of my favorite California pinks.  The Napa Valley vineyard from which these grapes come is west of the Oak Knoll district, almost in Carneros.  The aromas and flavors, while fruity, are more complex than those generally found in pink wines.  This is one Syrah rosé in which the Syrah really shows up for work. It is deeply-colored and richly textured.  It looks pink, but it drinks red.

2012 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, White Label  $30

We always need a nice white wine for holiday entertaining, and why not Sauvignon Blanc?  Cornerstone's Sauv Blanc is rich and vivacious, two things we would all like to be.  It's great with turkey, too, or as an aperitif.

Not to brag on the excellent growing conditions in the Napa Valley, but Camp reports, "In Bordeaux they add Sémillon to add richness, but in the Napa Valley we can achieve that depth with the Sauvignon Blanc variety alone, letting the pure essence of this noble variety shine."

A holiday beef dish needs a Cab, and why not go all out for the holiday feast?  Cornerstone made their name with Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and here we have two reasons why.

2011 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, White Label   $65

Camp really bristles if you mention that the cool 2011 vintage was a problematic one.  He's quite content with a more Bordeauxesque growing season.  "The problems climate presents to winegrowers in Napa," he says, "are those of over-ripeness, sugars that mature ahead of flavors and lack of acidity. In truth, the hot vintages are the problem vintages in Napa, not the cooler ones.

"At Cornerstone Cellars," he continues, "we are very pleased with our 2011 wines and love their balance and freshness and length.  Our Cabernet has that bit of an herbal edge that makes the variety so compelling and so amazing with food.  A liberal dollop of Merlot, which ripens earlier than Cabernet, adds richness and a velvety mouthfeel to our 2011 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon White Label."

2011 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, White Label   $80

Camp: "The vineyards of the Howell Mountain AVA are well above the fog line meaning many extra hours of sunshine, which paid off big time in the cooler 2011 vintage.  In fact, I believe the wines from this AVA really benefited from the milder weather, which helped restrain the aggressive mountain tannins. What you'll find in our 2011 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, White Label is a classical Cabernet structure with firm, but perfectly ripe integrated tannins.  In my opinion it is a wine that should be ready to drink in five to seven years, but with proper storage can develop for decades."  Offer as a gift for the patient, with dinner for those of us who cannot wait.

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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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Drink Pink: Casey Flat Ranch Rosé

The California wines of Casey Flat Ranch were featured in a virtual tasting event recently.  The sustainably farmed vineyard and winery are located in the mountains of California’s Capay Valley, east of Napa Valley, at an elevation of 2,000 feet.  Soil conditions on the ranch range from rocky to sandy, with a sandstone base.  The climate is much like that of northern St. Helena, with a swing of 40 degrees between daytime and night - suitable for Bordeaux and Rhône varieties.  That Texas longhorn on the label represents the 200 head of longhorn cattle who graze on the ranch's grassland.

The Twitter tasting was also on a live video stream, archived here.  Casey Flat Ranch Managing Partner Alison Garrett and winemaker Laura Barrett hosted, while those who joined in sipped and commented on four CFR wines, one of them being the 2013 Rosé.

The 2013 Casey Flat Ranch Rosé of Syrah is all estate Syrah, grown in the Capay Valley hills east of a Napa Valley.  Alcohol clocks in at 14.1% abv and it retails for $18.  205 cases were produced.

Winemaker Barrett reveals, “The Casey Flat Ranch Rosé is made from Syrah grapes, which are harvested early and whole-cluster pressed to yield a pale pink, well-balanced juice with all natural acidity.”

The wine is tinted a light salmon, actually almost copper-colored.  There was no skin contact, as the juice was extracted especially for the making of this rosé.  The nose is as fresh as spring itself, with strawberry aromas laced with orange peel.  An herbal note underlies the fruit, a result of pressing the grape clusters whole, with stems and all.   This rosé's palate is fruity and delicate, with strawberry, raspberry and citrus abetted by an amazing level of acidity.  Despite the angular freshness, there is a full and almost creamy feel in the mouth.  It finishes with a raspberry tartness.

On Twitter, the Casey Flat Ranch Rosé garnered some pink love.  @WINEormous tweeted, “Gorgeous pale rose color. Bone dry.”  @WineUpdate chimed in with, “deeply stylish: Sweet cherry, cranberry, mineral, spice. Savory and giving.”  @Luscious_Lushes typed, “full of blood orange and rosehips. Juicy wild strawberry, hisbiscus zing. loving the spicy notes. Perfect for Thai.”  @cliffordbrown3 offered these tasting notes, “strawberries, spice, cherries, minerals and orange blossoms.”  @MsPullThatCork let us know that the wine is “made from 100% Syrah, no skin contact! All stainless. ‘Ballet slipper pink’ in color. Delicate berry flavors, juicy acidity. “  @BigNoseWino liked the “super strawberry spicy nose w/ nice acidity that slaps the back of your throat on the finish.”  @WineJulia chipped in with, “made in a classic style & harvested for making rose'. No skin contact w/ gorgeous color!”

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Drink Pink: Blue Plate Rosé 2013

Spring is official now, although it may not feel like it yet where you are.  In Southern California, the shading between seasons is not so dramatic as it is elsewhere, but we still know when it feels like a rosé.  Yes, it feels like a rosé pretty much all the time.  Look for some great rosé wines to be featured under the "Drink Pink" heading on Now And Zin Wine as we work our way towards summer.

Who better to make a wine for summer than the Picnic Wine Company?  Their Blue Plate Rosé is branded after the restaurant world's blue plate special, a cornerstone of American flavor and value.  They have both ends covered with a very tasty wine for $12 a bottle.  The company also makes a Chenin Blanc and a Grenache.

Their rosé wine is made nearly completely from Grenache grapes of Lodi, California.  There is a five percent splash of Napa Valley Flora grapes.  Well, I had never heard of Flora grapes, either.  Turns out they are a cross between Gewürztraminer and Sémillon, designed to inherit the spice of the former and the body of the latter.  That five percent comes across stronger than you might think.  The wine has restrained alcohol at just 13%, and only 700 cases were made.  Don't be late for the picnic.

With an inviting color that lies somewhere between rich salmon and light coral, this wine looks like the real deal before you get close enough for a sniff.  That sniff, when you are close enough, is even more inviting.  Strawberries, watermelon and lemon peel aromas pretty much pave the way for summer.

The flavors on the palate will rival your picnic.  Strawberries again, with brilliant cherries and light spices are topped off by a ripping acidity that fits with whatever is in that basket on the blanket.  The strawberry lingers on the palate longer than a summer sunset.

There will be more rosé wines coming as we countdown for summer on Now And Zin Wine.  Stay tuned.  These aren't summer reruns.


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Drink Pink: Château De Campuget Rosé

Spring is official now, although it may not feel like it yet where you are.  In Southern California, the shading between seasons is not so dramatic as it is elsewhere, but we still know when it feels like a rosé.  Yes, it feels like a rosé pretty much all the time.  Look for some great rosé wines to be featured under the "Drink Pink" heading on Now And Zin Wine as we work our way towards summer.

We grabbed a friend recently to introduce her to Della Terra, a great Italian restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.  My meal was heightened the 2012 Château de Campuget rosé.

Château de Campuget has been around for nearly 400 years in the southern Rhône Valley, specifically the Costières-de-Nimes region.  The Campuget property has plenty of the round stones for which the Rhône is known, the stones worn smooth by their glacial trip southward.  The estate also gets their share of the Mistral winds which strafe the French countryside and make it necessary to train the vines low to the ground..

The 2012 vintage was dry and sunny in the southern Rhône, with drought conditions actually affecting some areas.  Those vines had to send their roots deep through the rocks to seek out water in the clay soil far below.  Such work tempers fruit and bestows upon the grapes a higher level of intensity.

This salmon-colored wine is made up of 70% Syrah grapes and 30% Grenache, and it is a fairly serious rosé.  The fun is not lost here, but the wine definitely shows up ready to get down to business.  It costs $12 by the glass at Della Terra.  Online, I saw it offered for as low as eight bucks per bottle.

The nose of the 2012 Château de Campuget rosé is garden-fresh.  Strawberry, watermelon and cherry aromas are dusted with a light touch of anise and just a trace of funk.  The mouthfeel is notable for the mouthwatering acidity this wine brings to the table.  Bright cherry and strawberry flavors are also quite fresh, and the minerality is outstanding.  A great finish of melon and minerals lingers on the tongue.

Pairing Château de Campuget with seafood worked extremely well.  It was a hit with Della Terra's crab cakes, octopus salad and shrimp risotto.


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Pink Zinfandels From Dry Creek Valley: Just Don't Call Them White

Let me be clear.  I don’t have anything against White Zinfandel.  I don’t drink it much, but for those who like it, cheers!  I pitched a wine story to a magazine editor once who promised to “cut off all communication” with me if I ever brought up White Zinfandel again.  I didn’t, but he hasn’t called lately anyway.

A lot of folks do like White Zin - that wine type accounts for one out of ten bottles taken out of U.S. supermarkets.  If you sat in the back of the math class in high school, that works out to ten percent, and that’s a lot for one variety.

I do like old vine Zin, though.  White Zinfandel’s incredible popularity since its accidental invention in the early 1970s probably spared many an old Zinfandel vine which may have otherwise been pulled out of the ground to make way for more Cab, or Chardonnay, or Moscato, or insert trendy grape here.  But when ten percent of grocery store sales are White Zin, you keep that old Zinfandel growing, and for that I am grateful.

A publicist reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try three Zinfandel rosés from Dry Creek Valley - not White Zin, mind you, but true, dry, Provence-style rosé made from the Zinfandel grape.  I said, “Sure, I would.”

Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County is known for its Zinfandel wines, so it stands to reason they should be known for those of a lighter hue, too.  These true rosé wines offer the acidity and refreshing nature of a white wine, while maintaining the heft and flavor of red wines.

Pedroncelli Dry Rosé of Zinfandel 2012

The Pedroncelli family has been producing a rosé since 1951.  The word “dry” was added to its name in 2007, in order to draw a distinction between it and White Zin.

The grapes for their Signature Selection Dry Rose come from the Pedroncelli vineyard as well as another vineyard, unnamed in the media material I saw.  These grapes are picked in mid-September - a little early for Zinfandel, but just right for keeping the sugar down and retaining acidity.  Free-run juice joins 30% saignée in stainless steel fermentation.

This magenta marvel's color sits between pink and rosado - it's so brilliant it looks more like Kool-Aid than wine.  That's where the similarity ends, though.  This dry rosé smells like strawberries right off the vine, with an herbal note layered onto it.  In the mouth, the focus on acidity is readily apparent.  The fruit flavors are true to the varietal, with red berries aplenty and a nice weight in the mouth.  It’s lively, but carries a reasonable alcohol number of 13.9% abv.  I might have guessed it to be from the Rhône Valley - it has a sense of Cinsault about it, I think.

Dry Creek Vineyard Petite Zin Rosé 2012

The blend is 80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Sirah, with alcohol at 13.5% abv.  Juice is drained from the skins after about four hours of contact time, and that s plenty to give this blush the bold look of a rosado.  Grapes from vines averaging 16 years of age are harvested from flat benchland vineyards with some hillside influence.  2012 is the fifth vintage for this pink Zin, which retails for $18.

The wine shows impressively as a deep, rosy red in the bottle and the glass.  Fresh strawberries, cherries and raspberries burst from the nose and palate, but don't let the fruity come-on fool you.  A White Zin fan would have a siezure upon sipping it.  The ripping acidity and strong tannic structure make it clear that this wine intends to go to dinner, and it intends to have a New York strip.  Well, at least a pork chop.

Mill Creek Santa Rosa Rosé 2012

Zin plays only a supporting role here, with 92% Merlot against 6% Zinfandel and 2% Cabernet Franc, all from the Mill Creek estate vineyards.  Alcohol gets up in the 14.5% range, while retailing for $19.
Winemaker Jeremy Kreck uses stainless steel fermentation - there's no mention of oak.

The wine, like the Pedroncelli, is so pink it's red.  Brilliantly colored, the Santa Rosa Rosé smells great, too.  Cherries, watermelons and strawberries all leap to mind without much of a struggle.  The palate shows similar fruit choices and slips a little spicy note in for good measure.  Acidity is not a problem, so it can go with most all kinds of food.

I still think the grapes of the Rhône Valley make the best rosé, but the Zinfandel grape can certainly hold its own without some of its color.  These three dry rosés made from Zinfandel show that it's possible to make Pink Zin without making it White Zin.


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A Wine For Spring And Summer: Stepping Stone By Cornerstone Corallina Napa Valley Rosé 2012

For a good rosé wine, you have to look to Provence, right?  Tavel and Bandol are two places cited in the Stepping Stone press literature where “they make rosé like they mean it.”  Pink in California, they imply, is better left for breast cancer awareness than wine.  Pink in California means White Zin, and that means the wine aficionados need no help getting those noses turned up in the air.

But here’s the thing: pink doesn’t mean sappy and sweet at Cornerstone Cellars of Napa Valley.  Their Stepping Stone Corallina 2012 rosé is a bone-dry, oak-aged full-fledged wine that doesn’t apologize for its lack of pigmentation.  It flaunts it, in fact:

“Conceived as a rosé from the beginning, every farming choice throughout the year is made with only one goal in mind - rosé worth thinking about.  Harvest is timed solely around the complexity of fruit flavors as we don't need to worry about ripening the skin tannins.  The beautiful Napa Valley climate provides us with luscious fruit with more than enough color so no other skin contact is necessary than the three hours or so it takes the fruit to be gently pressed.”

At a suggested retail price of $20, the price isn’t high for a good rosé.  And it is a good rosé.  A 100% Syrah wine, it’s a single vineyard wine, too.  The grapes come from Crane Ranch Vineyard in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley.  The wine spends five months in French oak, picking up added complexity along the way.  The alcohol sits at a lofty - for a rosé - 14.1% abv.  419 cases were produced.  That’s not a lot, and the summer is long.  Just a word to the wise.

This true rosé wine looks pretty and pink in the glass, with not too deep a shade.  Corallina’s nose is as fragrant as a garden.  There are herbal accents, but the focus is on the fruit salad aromas that come forth.  Strawberry and melon are right in front - I get honeydew and cantaloupe plus the factory-standard watermelon.  There’s a lot more at work here, though.  The Syrah makes itself known despite the pinkish hue, with whiffs of spice and faint blackberry.  I swear there’s some cocoa in there, too, plus a bit of something earthy coming through.  The palate is a fresh fruit basket with ripe cherries piled upon raspberries, apples and tangerines.  Wait, this is still Syrah, right?

The cost of that vacation in Provence just got knocked down to twenty bucks a day.

By the way, the label is a work of art.  Really.  The work is called "Wine Dance" by artist Janet Ekholm.  Cornerstone spokespeople say “the brilliant colors and intermingling of subject, landscape and sky into a harmonious whole is the perfect reflection of our vision for Corallina Syrah Rosé.”


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Summer Wines From Tower 15 Winery

Tower 15 Winery was launched in 2011 by Tim Perr and Scott Knight, the guys behind the Pinot Noirs of Pali Wine Co.  Having already shown what they can do with the fruit of Santa Barbara County, they let their Lompoc-based Tower 15 line explore grapes from the Westside of Paso Robles.  Winemaker Aaron Walker and consulting winemaker Kenneth Juhasz do great work with the Pali Pinot, and they show their expertise with warmer-climate varieties, too.  The iconic label art for the Tower 15 wines is done by by Santa Monica artist Michael Giliberti.

In the same way that the name for Pali Wines is the nickname of Perr and Knight's hometown, Pacific Palisades, Tower 15's name also comes from nostalgia.  Lifeguard tower 15 - along the Pali coastline - has been a family meeting point through the years, and it serves as the inspiration for the label and is a symbol of friendship and good times.

The Tower 15 Sauvignon Blanc 2012 is made from 100% Paso Robles Sauvignon Blanc grapes.  The wine spends three months in neutral oak barrels and was bottled in February 2013.  Retail price is $18.50.

This is a great summer wine, and it's not bad for spring, either.  Three months in neutral oak lends a bit of weight, while the acidity is really the main attraction here.  Fresh, grassy aromas join tropical pineapple, lime and banana on the nose.  The palate also shows the oak's effect, with gentle spices layering the fruit in the flavor profile.  The brilliant freshness remains a player into the finish.  I also note a slightly frizzante quality, with bubbles clinging to the side of the glass for several minutes.

Sunset Rosé 2012

A salmon-pink blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvèdre from Paso Robles, Sunset rosé spends four months in neutral oak barrels.  It was bottled in February 2013.  The retail price is the same as its sibling, $18.50.

Sunset's nose features wonderful, earthy notes alongside the smells of strawberry, cranberry and melon.  As in the Sauvignon Blanc, the acidity takes center stage on the palate.  It's razor sharp at room temperature and only slightly less when carrying a chill.  There is also some bubbling around the rim, as in the white wine.  Flavor-wise, it's a pretty meaty rosé.  It displays a slightly lighter resemblance to the red grapes used to make it.  There's cherry, raspberry, a hint of cranberry and just a little savory undercurrent.  Pair it with a salad for sure, but make it a tri-tip salad.



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A Trio Of Italian-Style Wines From Castello Di Amorosa

I've written written before about the wines of Castello di Amorosa - the Calistoga castle that's a replica of a real Tuscan castle.  If you visit, it's hard to miss.  There aren't a lot of castles in the neighborhood.  This one took 14 years to build. It even has a torture chamber.  Presumably, the wine served there is very different from the wine served in the tasting room.

Castello di Amorosa uses estate fruit for all their wines, some of which are Italian varieties.  They kindly supplied me with samples of three of their wines which tip the fedora to their Italian heritage.

Gioia Rosato di Sangiovese 2011  $24
Pronounced "Joy-uh," this 100% Sangiovese rosé is fruity and fresh and a lively deep pink to boot.  Its nose is fresh and vibrant with cherries and plums.  The palate bursts with strawberries and raspberries, and a streak of earthy minerality.  A dynamite acidity laces it all together.  This wine looks big, but actually comes across as a light-middleweight.  The mouthfeel is crisp and refreshing, so it’s a great choice for salads, sandwiches or sipping on the porch this spring and summer. The alcohol content won't weigh you down - only 13.1% abv.  The wine is aged in stainless steel tanks.

Napa Valley Sangiovese 2009  $30
This varietal offering has medium density and is deep purple in the center of the glass, turning lighter at the edge.  The nose is enormous, laden with black cherry and blackberry with floral notes for good measure.  It's a bombastic bouquet, and it's fitting on such a heavyweight wine.  Frankly, it drinks more like a young Napa Cab - big alcohol, big tannins and fruit a lot darker than I expect in a Sangiovese.  The 14.5% alcohol content shows vividly upon opening, but after a night uncorked, it settles down quite a bit.  There's a lot of influence from the 18 months of ageing in French oak barrels which this wine receives.

La Castellana 2008  $68
A Super Tuscan-style blend, this one is made from 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 16% Sangiovese - all estate fruit.  The nose bears a lot of heat after opening, which burns off in a couple of hours.  The 14.6% abv remains noticeable, though.  The wood leaves its mark here, too - 20 months in French oak.  Intense aromas of blackberry dominate the smells, with a bit of tar and eucalyptus creeping through.  Huge fruit blasts through on the palate, too.  The tannins are firm and the acidity is mouth-watering.  On the third night after opening, the tar was so deep and rich I might have mistaken it for a Syrah.  The winemaker notes suggest a pairing with wild boar, which sounds great to me.

Winemakers Brooks Painter and Peter Velleno have produced some commendable wine.  Hear Castello di Amorosa’s consulting winemaker Sebastiano Rosa talk about the origins of Super Tuscan blends, and his history with wine, on the Castello di Amorosa SoundCloud site.

Castello di Amorosa wines are sold only at the castle or through their website.


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Muga Rosé 2011

A good rosé is an awesome thing.  Bodegas Muga makes an awesome rosé, which is a very good thing.

Many wine novices think that rosé wine is made from mixing red and white grapes.  Actually, rosé is usually made by limiting the skin contact when the grapes are crushed - a grape’s color is in the skin.  In Muga’s case, there is a 12-hour period when the juice is in contact with the skins.

This Spanish wine from Rioja, however, is made with both red and white grapes:  60% Garnacha, 30% Viura and 10% Tempranillo.  The wine is fermented 25 days in American oak and aged two months in same.  It cost $8 by the glass at Tender Greens.

The color is quite pretty, showing a very pale salmon hue.  A whiff of watermelon and cherry is in the forefront, but the oak does not come forward.  On the palate, flavors of melons meet an herbal quality, a sort of greenness.

I paired it with the herb-brushed albacore, grilled Brussels sprouts, spinach salad with feta and hazelnuts and mashed potatoes.  The Muga rosé was a worthy match for all the food on the plate.  By the way, a nice, dry rosé is a great thing to have around the house if you are expecting to serve any sandwiches.  Sandwiches made from leftover turkey and ham are what I am thinking about right now.


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Arthur Earl Winery, Los Olivos

Arthur Earl Winery makes wine in Buellton, CA, and they pour it in their tasting room in Los Olivos.  Arthur White (pictured) and Earl Brockelsby are the names behind the names.  They have no vineyards, so they buy all the grapes used in producing their wines.  Fruit from Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez Valley, Paso Robles and other parts of the Central Coast find their way into Arthur Earl bottles.

The tasting room is on the main street in Los Olivos, but it is tucked away a bit.  A serviceable room that seems much larger than it needs to be, the Arthur Earl storefront is staffed by people who love not just AE wine, but wine in general.  The pourers are equipped with pairing suggestions for dishes at restaurants in town.  One small business helping others.

And small is the word for the Arthur Earl production.  They usually only produce 100 to 300 cases of each varietal per year.  If you find one you really like, you’d better jump on it.  It may not be there on your next visit.

Arthur Earl Viognier, Vogelzang Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley 2008
From Santa Barbara County’s Happy Canyon AVA, it spends four months in neutral oak barrels, giving a surprisingly oaky overlay to the peach fruit.  $24

Rosé of Mourvedre, Vogelzang Vineyard, Santa Barbara County 2010
This pinky is dark in the glass with a funky nose of strawberries and green leaves.  The lovely taste is as complex and dark as you’d expect in a rosé made from this grape.  $25

Grenache, Vogelzang Vineyard, SBC, 2007
Very lovely strawberry aromas and flavors, with great acidity and nice tannins.  It’s great with Greek food.  $29.50

Nebbiolo, Stolpman Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley, 2006
Aromas of roses and cherries gives such a great start to this extremely pleasant wine.  It’s quite acidic, of course, and a really nice match with tomato sauce - it changes the taste of both the wine and the food.  $29.50

Moscato, Carrari Vineyard, SBC 2006
This is a sweet wine, but not necessarily a dessert wine.  Six percent residual sugar certainly makes for a sweet taste, but it’s not at all cloying.  In fact, the nose is rather herbal and the acidity is nice.  It’s not dessert, but it pairs well with dessert. Keep it in mind for the holidays.  Only 12.9% abv.  $16 (375 ml)

Summer Wine: Tercero Rosé 2008

Larry Schaffer of Tercero Wines does a great job making rosés, a fact that gets overshadowed by the fine work he does on his red wines.  Every year, I look forward to tasting his most recent pink wine - they are always interesting.

I managed to pick up a couple of bottles of the Tercero Rosé from the 2008 vintage this summer.  They may have been the last two bottles in the house at the Tercero tasting room in Los Olivos.  If you have a bottle that you forgot to drink, it’s showing very well right now.

A blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre, this Santa Barbara County registers an alcohol number of 13.5% abv.  I believe it sold for around $15.  Schaffer’s present vintage rosé offers much more Mourvèdre.

The ‘08 is medium pink in the glass, with a nose of melon, strawberry, cherry and hint of funky earth lurking in the shadows.  There are plenty of shadows here, as the palate is quite complex.  There’s fruit laced with black tea, and an especially nice zing of acidity.  The tea flavor is something I don't get very often in rosés, particularly young ones.  Just a few years of aging has given the wine quite a bit of complexity.

Summer Wine: Uvaggio Lodi Rosato 2010

This wine was one of those “Oh, look what I forgot I had” moments.  This has been sitting in the rack - er - cellar, for over a year.  It’s about time I break it open before summer slips away.  After all, it’s a rosé.

It’s actually a rosato - Uvaggio calls it that in keeping with the Italian grapes used in it.  It’s a blend of 81% Primitivo, 15% Barbera and 4% Vermentino, which are all grown in Lodi, California.

Uvaggio posts on their website that they make “interesting wines from very interesting Italian grape varieties.”  This pink wine is made in the saignée method, by bleeding juice from red wine production.  This one hits below the dozen marker in alcohol - 11.4% abv. The wine is barrel fermented, but malolactic fermentation is blocked.

Earthiness abounds in this wine.  It’s all over the nose and all over the palate, too.  Sniff past the funk and you are rewarded with a healthy strawberry aroma, with herbal notes.  Flavors almost too rich for rosé come forward as red berries and bright cherries.  The acidity comes sailing in on the finish, and the wine is very pretty - a deep magenta.

Interesting?  It sure is.  Good?  Yep.  Keep this stuff coming and I won’t mind summer hanging around awhile.

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Summer Wine: Costaripa RosaMara Chiaretto Lombardia 2011

Rosé is always thought of as a particularly good summertime wine, and it certainly is.  I hate to think, though, of all the people who wait from Labor Day until Memorial Day to drink it.  There’s no better choice than a nice, dry rosé to pair with turkey on Thanksgiving - or with turkey sandwiches the day after.  Keep that in mind.

Since we Northern Hemisphereans are enjoying summer right about now, how about a nice pink wine today?

The Costaripa RosaMara Chiaretto is from Italy’s Lombardy region in the northern part of the country, near Lake Garda.  It’s a lovely rosato that shows a rich pink color in the glass.  That alone is worth the price of admission, $18 per bottle at a wine store in Los Angeles, $12 by the glass where I had it.

Four great Italian grapes make up the blend: 60% Gropello, 30% Marezemino, and 5% each of Sangiovese and Barbera.  The wine sees some French oak aging and derives a wonderfully full mouthfeel from it.  I pick up a field of strawberries and an herbal play on the nose, with the palate showing very nice acidity.  It’s fruity and dry, which is what rosé should be.  There’s an element which seems part floral and part herbal in the flavor profile.  The smell of basil from a nearby pizza really seemed to be made especially for it.

Summer Wine: Corallina Rose Stepping Stone By Cornerstone

Every summer I encounter some really wonderful wines for warm weather.  This year I’m sharing them in a series spotlighting the wines of summer.  Look for them as we taste our way through the dog days.

Napa Valley’s Cornerstone Cellars is better known for their Cabernet than their rosé, but their Stepping Stone line of mid-priced wines designed for “everyday consumption” features a truly memorable rosé.  The Corallina will surprise those folks who don’t think a pink wine brings much to the table.

The wine is a rosé of Syrah, and it’s made specifically as a rosé, not in the saignée method, in which the pink juice is a by-product of a red wine.  The grapes come from Boyd Vineyard in Napa’s Oak Knoll district.  It’s a vineyard dedicated to the growing of grapes specifically for the Corallina rosé. The wine carries a 14.1% alcohol level and is bottled under a cork.

Winemaker Jeff Keene says they pick the grapes early, at a lower sugar level, like they would for a white wine.  Then come the whole-cluster press - three hours skin contact gives the wine the brilliant color.  Stainless steel fermentation is followed by a racking to used French oak barrels.  There, the wine sits on the lees for five months.  Here is Keene’s video on the wine.

Cornerstone Managing Partner Craig Camp supplied me with a sample of the 2011 Corallina, and he says,  "With the 2007 vintage Cornerstone Cellars embarked in a new direction with acidity and balance being our cornerstones, not simple brute power.  Obviously the white wines and, of course, this rosé make it to the market far more quickly than our red wines so in a very real sense these wines give you a preview of the future of all our wines.”  Corallina retails for $20.

The wine shows a rich and deep pink hue in the clear bottle.  I get watermelon and strawberry on the nose, but not just the fruit - stems and all.  That herbal element comes from the whole cluster press.  In the mouth it’s dry and zippy - cranberry and apple burst forth on a river of acidity.  A peppery touch of Syrah shows through, and the wine has more weight than you would expect to find in a rosé.  Cranberry lasts on the finish for a good, long while.  The Corallina is complex and delightful.

Will it pair with salads?  Sure, but winemaker Keene is right.  He advises you break it out when you grill.  It will go great with your summer BBQ plans.


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Pink Wine From Tavel With Kelly McAuliffe

There's a lot to learn about French wine and the regions from which they come.  It's a daunting task for many novice wine lovers.  Fortunately, there are opportunities to be instructed by experts.

The French Wine Society held a tutored tasting and masterclass April 25, 2012 in Los Angeles at the Hotel Wilshire.  American sommelier Kelly McAuliffe led the class of three dozen or so through a lesson and tasting of the wines of Tavel.

McAuliffe has been the sommelier for upper-tier restaurants in Las Vegas, Paris, Monte Carlo and Avignon.  He is a respected expert in the wines of the Rhône Valley and serves as a consultant to Inter-Rhône and other French wine agencies.  He also conducts guided wine tours of the Rhône Valley.  His passion for the rosés of Tavel are unabashed.

He summarized the challenges faced by Tavel producers in the global market by noting that "the horror of White Zinfandel has made it difficult to get people drinking dry rosé."  Dry rosés like the ones made in the Tavel region of the southern Rhône are "perfect for anywhere the weather is hot," said McAuliffe.  But he notes that when it comes to roses that are rich in color - like those of Tavel - the perception, "particularly among women, is that the wines are higher in alcohol and calories than the lighter-hued rosés of Provence.  That is not the case."

In Provence, rosés are made by the direct press method, which minimizes the grape skin’s contact with the juice.  For the grapes used to make rosé wines, the color is contained in the skin of the fruit.  Pressing the grapes without any skin contact produces a much lighter color in the wine than in the maceration process used in Tavel, in which the juice and skins are allowed to mingle together for a day or two.

McAuliffe presented a detailed look at the terroir of Tavel, showing it to be one of the warmest climates in France - second only to Languedoc - and possessing soil types that tend to produce wine rich in aromatics and minerality.

In the northern Rhône, granitic soils and steep hills are the rule, while in the south the land is flatter.  The southern Rhône was once an ocean - millions of years later it became a lake which eventually dried up.  The soils there are typical of this type of geological evolution.  The limestone of the ancient seabeds is what gives Tavel's dirt its demeanor.

Galets Roulés - This literally means “rolling stones,” rocks which have been rounded and smoothed by being swept along a in glacial flow.  These rocks are common in the southern Rhône, especially in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  The rocks hold heat, which helps give concentration to the grapes, and a higher alcohol content and tannic structure to the wine.

Garrigue - The wild-growing, aromatic vegetation on the alkaline rock soil imparts acidity, aroma and mineral notes to the grapes.

Red Clay - This clay-based soil is water retentive and iron rich, and gives power, tannins and age-worthiness to the wine.

Loess/Molasse - Wind-blown silt and sand provides warmth and fast draining.  Floral reds made to be consumed young are popular in this type of soil. Wines made from grapes grown in it are marked by freshness, finesse and elegance.

You can also  factor in the Mistral to the southern Rhône’s terroir.  This cold, dry northerly wind blows ferociously across the land at speeds of up to 60 mph for 130 days a year.  That's why vines are trained closer to the ground in the southern Rhône.  That’s also why the Dentelles-de-Montmirail Mountains are topped with a distinctive, bare rock ridge - the Mistral has blown the vegetation away over time.

McAuliffe displayed a Google Earth photo which clearly showed the different soils of Tavel appearing as different shades in the satellite image.

View Larger Map

Although McAuliffe maintains that wines from Tavel are age-worthy, he also cites that “most Tavel wine is consumed between April and August.

There were several Tavel rosés poured and tasted by the group:

Flight 1

Domaine de Tourtouil 2010
light pink color, gentle strawberry nose, good tannic structure, melon, cherry, minerals on palate

Domaine Le Vieux Moulin 2010
medium deep pink, herbal element on a Jolly Rancher nose,  smooth mouth, watermelon, strawberry

Domaine Moulin La Viguerie 2010
magenta, fruity cherry nose,  cherry and minerals, good tannins, acidity

Flight 2

Château de Trinquevedel 2011
salmon color, strawberry ,cherry nose,  great acidity, flinty edge to strawberry on palate

Domaine de la Mordoree - La Dame Rousse 2011
light salmon hue, great acidity, big cherry palate, minerality and tannins outstanding

Domaine Maby - Prima Donna 2011
deep salmon color, much rounder mouth, very full, great cherry, strawberry palate

Château d'Aqueria 2011
magenta color, earthy cherry nose, very full mouth with strawberry and minerals on palate


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Señorio de Sarría Rosado 2008

You don't really need any special reasons to like spring, but just in case, how about rosé?  The nice sunshine and gentle breezes really make me want nice pink, salmon or strawberry-red wine.  I like them dry, gently chilled and served out on the redwood deck.

The Señorio de Sarría Rosado comes from Spain's Navarra region.  It pours as a healthy red color and shows some very fine bubbles on the glass.  It's an extremely aromatic wine.  The nose is actually a bit funky.  I get some strawberry scents, but a very musty strawberry.  It's not really a barnyard aroma, but something like old books, old strawberry books.  I call that a really interesting nose.

The palate feels this offbeat essence in much the same way.  There's strawberry there, it's just not all sweet and innocent like strawberry usually is.  The acidity is very lively, almost too much so on first pour.  It does settle down a bit after some time in the glass.  I am drinking it at room temperature, which might be a factor.  I'll try it chilled tomorrow.

The alcohol level is a manageable 13.5% abv, and this rosado is made from Garnacha, or Grenache, grapes.  It only cost $10, so it could become a favorite choice on the redwood deck all summer.

Marques de Caceres Rosado 2007

Temperatures are warming up in Los Angeles - again - this week, and this afternoon's "Sunny and 81" has me in mind of a Spanish rosado I tried a while back, Marques de Caceres.

This Rioja rosado is either a light strawberry color or a darker salmon.  Either way, it makes a beautiful statement in the glass.  13.5% abv, it's a dry rosé made from 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha.  Let's smell it.

Aromas of raspberry dominate the nose for me, but there's a very nice floral layer underneath it.  I wanted to say hibiscus, but I don't know how accurate that is.  I'll just say it's a beautiful fragrance without any further elaboration.

Don't worry about this rosé being too sweet for you.  It's nice and dry.  The strawberry flavor is matched with raspberry notes and the taste lingers quite nicely afterward.  The label suggests the usual pairings (paella, chicken, seafood) and I wouldn't argue with any of those.  However, I had it with a dessert my wife made and the taste was exquisite.  She created a mascarpone-based whip which we put on a cracked pepper and olive oil Triscuit.  The wine really had a good time pairing with that unlikely match.  We were duly impressed. Not to mention a bit surprised.

Vallons des Glauges Rosé 2008

Salads can be one of the most boring food items on a restaurant menu.  But sometimes you find a place that makes them right.  Denise and I favor salads, but even as a fan of the leafy dish, sometimes they can be too, well, leafy.

We have found a place that does salads right.  Salades de Provence  makes salads that have eggplant and zucchini in them.  Their salads have haricots verts in them.  I know that's only French for green beans, but don't they taste better when they call them that?  Bacon's in there, Saint Marcelin cheese, smoked salmon and fresh fried potatoes!  Fresh fried potatoes!  How can you go wrong with a salad which has fresh fried potatoes in it?

They also do quiche, but there's no need to make a list of what's in them.  It's hard to screw up a quiche.  They even have a "quiche of the day."

They also have plenty of French wine which all seems to go great with their food.  Most of the offerings are not special, high-dollar wines, but everyday offerings of, mainly, Provence.

I had a quiche, with a side salad, and a wine that seemed to have been made for the occasion.  Vallons des Glauges rosé went hand in hand with my dinner, as all the other wines I've had here have gone with those light dinners.

The rosé had a tight nose - it was quite chilled - but a light fruitiness came through, peaches, or some such sweetness.  The taste, though, was dry and flavorful.  It was great with my quiche.    

Variety: Grenache, Syrah, Counoise 
Appellation: France > Provence > Coteaux d’Aix en Provence
Vintage: 2008 
Acquisition disclaimer: Bought, by the glass, by the author