Posts Tagged“rose”

What We Drank: July 17, 2012

This week’s ‘What We Drank’ is short, but delicious. This is what some of our editors and contributors have been drinking…   Tracy Weiss:  Domaine Ricard Touraine 2011 Le P’tit Rosé There’s no other choice really when you throw your cousin a Bachelorette Party on Bastille Day. French, obviously. Something feminine and can hold up to an 87 F-degree day in Manhattan? Think Pink! Loire Valley’s Le P’tit Rosé made a beautiful toast to pending nuptials in more ways than one. The Gamay and Cab Franc blend is rich with a jewel-like tourmaline color and good legs. This biodynamic vineyard near the river Cher…

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Wolffer Estate Vineyards 2011 Rose

Wolffer Estate Vineyards and winemaker Roman Roth are known for producing some of the East Coast’s best chardonnay and merlot. But it is this wine, the Wolffer Estate Vineyards 2011 Rose ($16), that is probably the winery’s best known. You’ll find it most every where in the Hamptons — from posh pool parties to the beach to restaurants and bars — and they make a lot of it every year, typically well north of 9,000 cases (which dwarfs several Long Island wineries’ total production). Made with 54% merlot, 21% chardonnay, 9% pinot noir, 8% cabernet franc and 8% cabernet sauvignon,…

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Rosé Means Dry? In the Finger Lakes, a New Idea Gains Momentum

Finger Lakes winemaker Vinny Aliperti is taking on Shakespeare, whether he knows it or not. It was The Bard who famously wrote, in Romeo & Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” It was his typically poetic way of saying that what we call something doesn’t matter; the content of that thing is what matters. Maybe not. Maybe a name matters enough to affect public perception. Aliperti finds that to be true with rosé. Some Finger Lakes wineries have seen steady growth in sales and production of rosé, while others have stagnated. Some of that stagnation…

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2009 Harvest Update: Jamesport Vineyards

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Photos courtesy of Jamesport Vineyards  Getting in touch with winery owners and grape growers is always a challenge this time a year. They've got more pressing (pun intended) things to do than respond to the enthusiastic (okay, incessant) requests from me for harvest data. But, little by little, the the reports are coming in, including a few emails from Jake Perdie, tasting room manager at Jamesport Vineyards, owned by veteran grower Ron Goerler. They picked all of their chardonnay last week, at 22.5 brix, and 5 tons were sold to Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn. Before…

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Corey Creek Vineyards 2008 Domaines CC Rose

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief For some reason, we haven't been drinking as much rose around the house this summer as we normally do. I'm not sure why, exactly, but this wine was a nice reminder of why we should drink it more often, with and without our meals. I should also mention that year in and year out, this is always one of my wife's favorite local roses. Corey Creek Vineyards' 2008 Domaines CC Rose ($18) is made using the saignee method where juice is bled off early in the red wine process and fermented separately. It's mostly…

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Mattebella Vineyards 2008 Rose

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Today's tasting note is going to be a quick one about a new release from Mattebella Vineyards, a producer you'll be reading about more here on LENNDEVOURS soon. This Mattebella Vineyards 2008 Rose ($15) is primarily merlot (92%) with a small percentage of cabernet franc (8%), and it tastes like many Long Island roses tastes — mostly of strawberries. The nose is dominatedly almost completely by grocery store strawberry aromas with a touch of red apple skin in the background. Medium-bodied and dry, this isn't a wimpy rose. Again, strawberries dominate with a light…

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Shinn Estate Vineyards 2008 Rose

By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher This isn't another one of those "rose is making a comeback" pieces, but dry rose is one of the under-appreciated pleasures of cool climate wine regions. The natural acidity that cool evenings and long, slow growing seasons retain is key. In the Finger Lakes, there are more dry roses (in addition to the sweet ones) being bottled every year, but here on Long Island, dry rose has been a part of many wine programs for years. Sometimes, they are made by blending red and white grapes, but some of my favorites are made primarily…

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Croteaux Vineyards 2007 Merlot “181 Clone” Rose

Today, I offer my review of the third Croteaux Vineyards rose from the 2007 vintage (see the other reviews). This wine, the Croteaux Vineyards 2007 Merlot "181 Clone" Rose ($18) is the lightest and most delicate of the lot. Made from the 181 clone, from Pomerol, it was fermented entirely in stainless steel and is a pretty pale salmon-orange. The nose is light and fruity, with peach aromas dominating and a bit of strawberry. Similar fruit carries over to a light-bodied palate that also features nice, thirst-quenching acidity. It's surprisingly light on flavor, however. Even at room temperature, I was…

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Croteaux Vineyards 2007 Merlot “3 Clone” Rose

I definitely enjoyed this wine's 10% barrel-fermented sibling, but Croteaux Vineyards' 2007 Merlot "3 Clone" Rose ($18) was fermented entirely in oak and aged for 5 months in older oak barrels… and I just don't 'get' this wine. I like that Croteaux makes "rose on purpose," even if it seems a bit insane in such a tremendous vintage to use all of that beautiful merlot fruit for rose. And, it's kind of interesting that they do three different ones (I'll post my review of the third tomorrow), but this wine is just weird. Sometimes weird is good. Here, I'm not…

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WTN: Shinn Estate Vineyards 2006 Rose (North Fork of Long Island)

"There is no reason to produce wimpy little pink wines with no varietal character." That’s what David Page, co-owner of Shinn Estate Vineyards said when I asked him about his 2006 Rose ($16). Their rose is different alright–different from every other Long Island rose I’ve tasted this summer. It’s a much richer, bolder wine. The strawberry- and watermelon-scented wine is far from wimpy. It’s medium bodied and much rounder and fuller on the palate–but still balanced with gentle acidity and even a little tannic structure. There is a faint buttery note too, although malolactic fermentation was strictly avoided. For me,…

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