After trading emails with Sam over at Becks & Posh, I decided to reblog my entry for Wine Blogging Wednesday #9 themed on rose or “pink” wines. It seems Sam’s day job is not leaving much time for podcast listening, so here are the CliffsNotes with a few timecode stamps to help her sort out the audio:

(0:00 – 0:37) Introduction, theme music and show kickoff, thanking Sam for hosting WBW this month and the theme of rose wines. Rose is the “Rodney Dangerfield of wines”; they get no respect. This is probably due to indifferent blends of red and white wines we have had being passed off as rose, as well as the sticky, sweet white zinfandels we have been subjected to over the years. In fact, I have not had a proper rose or pink wine in a few years, so this theme was an excellent chance to check out three dry rose wines.

Before sharing my tasting notes, I spoke a bit about how rose wines are made (1:16). The first method is to crush red grapes and macerate the must for only a few hours to impart only a small amount of the pigment to the wine. Then the winemaking process is followed the same as used to make white wine. For some unknown reason, I failed to mention that the French call this process, “vins gris”, even though my notes clearly state this fact. The second method is called, “saignae” or “bleeding”. This is where red wine is made, but a bit of the juice is drained off early in the winemaking process to concentrate the resulting red’s flavors. The bled juice is then made into rose using the process followed to make whites.

Next (2:17), I commented about the proper temperature to serve rose (50 – 54F, or 10 – 12C) and launched into my tasting notes:

Toad Hollow Vineyards, “Eye of the Toad”, Dry Pinot Noir Rose 2004 ($12) – Clear pink, beautiful strawberry/watermelon nose, strawberry/cherry fruit, bone dry, nice finish; serve a bit warmer than regular rose to fully reveal it’s aromas and flavors; I also like the whimsical, yellow plastic cork! Score: 8/10

Les Vignerons de Montblanc, Syrah Rose, Vin de Pays des Cotes de Thongue 2003 ($9) – Rose center with nice pink edges, watermelon candy nose, nice flavor intensity of light red berries, dry and refreshing; another plastic cork! Score: 8/10

Cuvee Catherine, Rose d’Anjou 2002 ($6) – Very light tawny red, light flowery nose, almost vegetal in flavor with bell pepper and cherry in a good way, off-dry, but not sweet, with a good dose of acidity; a bit bitter on the finish; drink ASAP as the wine is past it’s prime. The only cork in the bunch. Score: 7.5/10

(5:09) Best of tasting: Toad Hollow Vineyards, “Eye of the Toad”, Dry Pinot Noir Rose 2004

Best value: Les Vignerons de Montblanc, Syrah Rose, Vin de Pays des Cotes de Thongue 2003

(5:21 – 8:16) I then shared some final thoughts for regular Winecast listeners about sending in questions for an upcoming show, voting at Podcast Alley, Gmail and Yahoo! 360 invites and a poll I have open on my blog.

Thanks once again to Sam from Becks & Posh for the theme and her upcoming summary write-up this weekend. I hope this extended post helps save you a bit of time 😉

Cheers!

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