Why Rose` wine goes with everything
I’m going to get the “nobody drinks enough rose`wine” harangue out of the way before I get to my main theme, so here it goes - NOBODY DRINKS ENOUGH ROSE` WINE! They are usually excellent values, most are NOT sweet, they can be drunk (depending on the particular wine) warm, lightly, or fully chilled, their beautiful and widely varying colors make it fun to guess what each will taste like vis a` vis those colors, and perhaps most importantly, they are just plain super tasty!
OK, now to the main theme: the versatility of rose`. But before directly discussing rose` let’s look at red and white wines and their overall “usefulness”. This may come as a great shock to some of you, but red wine is the LEAST versatile dry style wine, and this is attributable to two main factors: tannins and alcohol. High(er) fat and protein dishes like porterhouse steaks, a pot of beans with chorizo, or even salmon with a butter-based sauce use these substances to mitigate the ultimate agressivity of tannins and alcohol on the human palate and olfaction, causing a certain felicitous stalemate between the tannins and alcohol on one side, and fat and proteins on the other. But, pairing red wines (especially “big” ones) with more delicate or moderated ingredients often suffer under the onslaught of these substances causing the wine to obliterate the subtleties of less hearty fare.
Now white wines have zero to almost no tannins (because most tannins come from grape skins) and all things being equal, are lower in alcohol than reds - this is the reason why white wine pairs better with lighter, more delicate dishes like most fish dishes, appetizers, pastas, etc. But don’t sell whities short by implying that they can handle these sorts of dishes and no more…No, white wine has a secret weapon, and these are called ACIDS (reds have ‘em too, just not as many), subtances that can make up for its other “shortcomings”. So while proteins love to bind with tannins best, acids do a great job of cutting though and cleansing the palate of fats and proteins that build and linger in the mouth and nose, allowing you to better taste your next bite of food. For example, a good, older Champagne can do almost as much justice to a t-bone that a big Cabernet can (incredulous? try it!)
And so we turn to our hero rose`. Let’s face it, its not hard to conceive of rose` as a sort of mid-point between red and white wine, because that’s pretty much what it is. What rose` has is a sort of centrist mass appeal… First, its alcohol levels tend to fall somewhere between reds and whites, so they are rarely too big for delicate dishes, but rarely too light for more unctuous foods either. Also, the more successful rose` wines (at least for most drinkers) tend to be made from red grape varities that are naturally moderately to quite acidic (Cinsault, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, Tibouren, Blaufrankisch, et al.), or are at least made from a blend of acidic and less acidic varieties, so acidity’s benefits to food matching are securely in the mix. BUT, because all rose` wines clearly require a certain amount of juice/skin maceration to obtain their pinkish to reddish colors, all roses have at least a little bit of tannin as well, so tannin’s ability to dance with certain food chemicals are also present at the party. So, though one rarely gets the full whack of what reds do best AND what whites do best in ALL rose` wines, one almost ALWAYS gets a fair amount of both, making rose` a sort of oenological lingua franca in its ability to communicate with all kinds of foods. It makes me think of a certain Rolling Stones song that goes “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes you find that you get what you need.” (oh boy)
I can hear the incredulity that some of you still harbor (what!?) Don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself. This weekend, cook up a wide range of foods - all styles, ethnicities, with meat, vegetarian, etc. Then open an “average”, versatile example of a red, a white, and a rose` with an eye toward selecting the SINGLE BEST WINE STYLE FOR EVERY DISH. If you don’t come up with the rose`, I’ll eat my hat.
TOM CIOCCO
15 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Nice posting on rosés. According to Nielsen’s annual report rosé sales are up 23.9% over the previous year. I had fun doing a couple of entries on rosés. Is this the slow decline of white Zinfandel in the making?
Comment by Wilf Krutzmann — June 20, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
Hey Wilf-
Thanks - and we can only hope that your stats do indeed sound the death knell for White Zin!
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — June 21, 2007 @ 9:19 am
Hey Tom,
My wife and I had a number of nice rose wines in the Paso Robles area a couple of weeks ago. Our favorite was one from Tablas Creek. I am starting to like rose wines a lot more these days but it did take me awhile to recover from gut-reaction to anything “pink” or even “dark pink/light red” due to my white Zin experience of the distant past.
Comment by JayZee — June 21, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
Jay-
Understood. Lot’s of folks have the same aversion, but once most people taste a REAL rose` they “get it” immediately…and yes indeed - the Tablas Creek rose` ia a winner!
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — June 21, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Great post Tom. I love Roses; my only problem is that I only think about drinking them in warm weather, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Comment by Harold — June 21, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
Tom: Love the rose; but like Harold, I tend to think of then in warmer weather. Actually, I find September to be prime pink weather…..
I always have enjoyed your picks in the past. Howe about a coupe of rose’ selections?
Thanks!
Comment by Russ J — June 22, 2007 @ 11:01 am
Russ-
You asked for it, so you’ll get it! Here are a few of my favorite rose` wines…in no particular order:
Commanderie Peyrassol 2006 WL# 30802
Pale pink and FRESH! - Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault & Mourvedre (may be out of stock at this writing - check back next week)
Sautereau Sancerre Rose 2006 WL# 32704
100% Loire Valley Pinot Noir - SO pretty and elegant!
Cantalupo Rosato “Il Mimo” 2006 WL# 32032
A bit of an oddity - 100% Nebbiolo rose` from northern Piedmont.
Cascina Castle’t Grignolino d’Asti 2005 WL# 27837
Not strictly a rose` but rather a very light red. Fresh, tart, and spicy rarity from Piedmont.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — June 22, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
The Grignolino rocks! I’ve tried the one you mention above as well as the previous offering. Works with a slight chill (cellar temp) or ambient. I will look for your other rec’s.
Thanks!
Comment by Russ J — June 25, 2007 @ 3:56 pm
Thank you for the interesting article! I was doing some research tonight on rose’s and came across your page. We do a weekly wine segment on our local TV channel in British Columbia, CHBC, and we chose to do Rose tomorrow. Thanks again for the great read. Two great new BC Rose’s we’ve come across and sell are from Township 7 and Quails Gate. Give them a try if you can!
Comment by Tracy Gray — June 28, 2007 @ 1:26 am
Hello Tom I hope you can see this.. I’ve seen a lot of anjou wine in my local store lately.. Any thoughts on this aoc???? I think a couple of these bottles are mass produced, that means a lot of trouble???
Wow I’m starting to post on a regular basis at your blog
Thank you..
Comment by Ferrigno — June 28, 2007 @ 6:10 am
Ferrigno-
For me, Anjou rose` wines are more successful than the straight reds (I prefer Saumur, Saumur-Champigny, Chinon in Loire Valley reds). They’re made from Cabernet Franc and are usually excellent values. Below are the WL#s for 2 other Loire Valley roses - the former is 100% Cabernet Franc, the latter 100% Pinot Noir. If you pick up one or both, share your thoughts here!
32086
32704
Comment by Tom C — June 28, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Tracy-
Rose` wines are on the rise BIG TIME for many of the reasons that I outlined in the piece above. Likewise, BC wines are starting to carve out a narrow but marked path in the wine world…thanks for reading!
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — June 28, 2007 @ 10:13 am
Tom - I so agree with you - this is why I conclude that rosés are the best all-around lunch wine.
P.S. Spelling rosé “rose`” hurts my eyes. Please, please stop.
Comment by Jack — June 30, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
Tom,
This comment doesn’t necessarily belong with the rose post, but I was wondering if you could recommend a good book or other written source for food and wine pairing? I have most of the major encyclopedias and I’m looking for something more specific. What are some of your favorite wine books in general? Thanks!
Comment by Jean — September 5, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Hi Jean-
There’s a very fine book called “What to Drink with What You Eat” by Doreneberg, Page, and Sofronski.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — September 5, 2007 @ 10:59 am