Mid-season rosé update
The Fourth of July holiday is here and it’s the prime-time for drinking dry rosé. These lovely, bone-dry wines are most often released during the spring and summer months and come from many wine producing regions and are made from several different varietals. Regardless of where it comes from or what grape is used, the best wines are crisp and clean, have low alcohol levels and are perfectly refreshing in the warm weather. Production levels most times are small, so some rosé will come and go in a matter of weeks, thus the need for our update. Here are our favorites right now.
We have exactly two cases left in our allocation of the 2018 Skylark Pink Belly ($24, wine club price $21.60). Regular readers know this is our most popular wine every year and it is again this year. The pallet we received is down to the last 24 bottles. Crafted from 100 percent Grenache, the wine shows delicious palate flavors of strawberry and watermelon that meld with aromas of wet stones and a clean finish for a delightful wine.
The 2018 Ryan Patrick Rosé ($13, wine club price $11.70) from Washington is a new one for us this year. It’s both a pleasant surprise and an amazing value. The palate on this wine is complex, with flavors of pomegranate, strawberry and a nice burst of red grapefruit focused citrus. The aromas are all spring berry focused and the finish is dry and crisp but not without texture and length. With the crowd-pleasing price, it is rapidly becoming a new customer favorite.
The 2017 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny Rosé ($20, wine club price $18) from the Loire Valley is a treat to have back this year. We did not receive any last year and missed it greatly. Like all our pink wines, it is dry and crisp. The acid on the Cheverny, though, may take the wine to a whole new level of refreshing. The wine, like all the best rosés, including all those here, does not see oak barrel time. It is fermented and briefly aged in concrete, which adds some depth to the wine. The tart berry and cherry flavors go on forever through the long but crisp finish. A side note here, the Salvard Cheverny white, which has been absent from the market since February of this year, will be back in stock next week. The Cheverny Blanc has been our most popular white wine for several years and we are excited to have it back in as well.
The 2018 Pere Anselme Côtes de Provence Rosé ($17, wine club price $15.30) is fabulous again this year. The last five cases of this annual “gem” arrive this week, so it is another you may want to grab; it will be gone in the next couple of weeks. The wine is Mourvèdre based, as most are from Provence. It is the most textural of the lot, with great palate weight, all while maintaining the crisp and clean presentation. Flavors of cherry and raspberry dominate and the wine will quickly transport you to the South of France with every sip.
The 2017 Domaines Sumeire ($23, wine club price $20.70), like the Pere Anselme, is from Provence and is made from all Mourvèdre. The wine shows great layering of flavors, with a long evolving finish that shows berry, apple and citrus notes all across the palate. My sense from tasting the wine several times is that some lees stirring and cold fermentation contribute to this extraordinary flavor profile. The aromas are all about the terroir showing a lot of wet stone minerality. The Sumeire is a fun one to linger over, to be sure.
Our rose lineup will continue to evolve over the summer as we sell through the allocations we receive, so new ones will be added all the time. Stop by the shop to try these, or to see what’s next in this best of summer wines.
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George Balling is co-owner with his wife, Mary Lancaster, of the dinner party, a wine and gift shop in Coeur d’Alene by Costco. The dinner party has won the award for best wine shop in North Idaho twice, including for 2018. George is also published in several other publications around the country. After working in wineries in California and judging many wine competitions, he moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mary more than 10 years ago to open the shop. You can also follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.