Tag Archives: Rosé

Portada Rosé

Cost: Average price $8-9

Where buy now: Zipp’s Liquors

Grapes: Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Tinta Roriz. (Portuguese word for Tempranillo)

Region: Portugal

Vintage: 2014

Portada Rose
Portada Rose

Gah! It’s $7.99! I drank my first bottle in one sitting!

 

This Rosé is a blend of frolicking grapes that must have been BFFs growing up. Combined they create an easy drinking, refreshing beverage. It’s dynamic but soft; sensual yet practical. [Perhaps this Princess has finally found her Portuguese Prince?]. Okay so this wine isn’t technically a “Red Wine of the Week” being pink and all. However, it’s made from red grapes, so that’s good enough for me.

 

I should have just bought a case of the Portada Rosé. But no, I’m an asshole who likes to waste time by going back and forth to the liquor store on a daily basis. You know the people who claim their coffee barista knows both their name and beverage du jour? Yep, that’s my relationship with the liquor store sales clerks.  The only thing missing is my name on the paper bag.

 

Let me save you the trouble, buy this wine by the case, seriously. Pour yourself a glass and inhale the aromas of apple and strawberry engulfed in Portuguese minerality.  This stunner is _thee_ Rose of the summer (aka TROTS), as deemed by me, Thee Savvy Lush.

 

I just love it.

 

Elicio Rosé

Cost: Average price $10

Where buy now: Sorella Wines & Spirits Sale – $5

Grapes: Grenache & Cinsault

Region: France

Vintage: 2011

Elicio Rose

Rosé typically rings in Spring, but with the sub-freezing BS throughout March, Spring seems eons away. I’m grasping for anything to help remind me that better weather will be here. Remember what your patio looked like? Remember the smell of multiple grills burning food stuffs throughout the neighborhood? Remember not cursing to yourself every time you walked outside?

Besides sucking down 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D and gluing my face to my light box, Rosé will be my third little helper. This trifecta will prevent my soul from succumbing to this never-ending weather suckage.

Today, I was right hungover. After seeing my new favorite local band, The Blackberry Brandy Boys, then staying up eating pizza with the hubby, watching Netflix until we passed out on the couch around 4am, I “made my bed”. So I laid in it. Well, on a reformer carriage. I got my sad ass out of bed for my 11:30 Pilates class then laid around watching some March Madness.

Later, we met a friend at Sorella Wines & Spirits for their Spring wine sale. There were tons of wines to sample and I didn’t want a one. I wanted a bed and maybe a doobie to help me slip off into a winter slumber. My husband got a glass and went with- the old “hair of the dog” strategery. He emphatically sang the praises for the Elicio Rosé. That’s right, my husband is a pink wine drinker. Listen up all you men: there’s no shame in this. A lady loves to see a man bury his face in a pink glass to check out the nose, then wrap his eager lips around the glass as he confidently wets them with the pink nectar.

Anyways, *ahem*, his sheer excitement was quite refreshing for these tired eyes so we grabbed a glass to join in. Wow. The nose had a strawberry/watermelony whiff. Not sweet like a jolly rancher but a bright fruit forward flavor, creamy body, balanced by a mineral dryness. We took a sip, then looked at each other. It’s good. Really good. Wait, it’s on sale for $5? It’s stupid good!

Now, we are counting down the days for Solo Vino’s Rosé Tent Tasting May 19th. Perhaps you think our standards for Rosé are low due to anticipation, but I don’t think so. I think this is some damn good French juice, so at this price, I had no choice but to stock up. If you’re at all on the fence about Rosé, pick this bottle up and give it a try, a $5 non-gamble that will have you sucking down bottle after bottle. So, if we can’t have Springtime physically, we can at the very least, have it mentally. This Elicio Rosé will help get you there, at least until the real thing arrives.

Domaine de Figueiresse Gris de Gris Rosé

Cost: Average price $12

Where buy now: Zipp’s Liquors, Solo Vino

Grapes: 30% Cinsault, 20% Grenache Gris, 40% Grenache Noir and 10% Grenache Blanc

Region: Gulfe du Lion, Languedoc France

Vintage: 2011

Domaine de Figueiresse Gris de Gris Rosé

Since we are in the midst of Rose season, I must bring you another Rose that is both moderately priced and tastes amazing. Introducing the Domaine de Figueiresse Gris de Gris. It’s predominantly Grenache [Granache peeps holla!] and part Cinsault, a red wine grape whose main purpose is for blending with other grapes.  Cinsault [sin SO] is often blended with Grenache to give it a soft, fruity taste that’s also pleasantly aromatic.  This wine is yummy and at around $10, it’s real yummy.

I was introduced to this Rosé at a tasting hosted by The Wine Company. There were so many Rosés that I was FORCED to narrow my choices.  A good problem to have, but after a while, my pallet was on overload.  I’m not ashamed to say that after 9 or 10 Rosé samples, I have a difficult time discerning one that is akin to “ripe strawberry” from one that is simply “strawberry-like”. I could be explaining one of a thousand different Rosés.  I don’t want my head to hurt by _thinking_ about wine, dammit!

What I do know is if you are [still] hesitant to creep over to the pink side, this is one for you to test the waters. It is bright, full of fresh strawberry flavor; also, it’s dry, yet quenches that Summer thirst. Again, pink wine is NOT, I repeat NOT the White Zin from the 80s! It’s delicious and super drinkable alone, or even better, it pairs with just about everything.