While it is nice to drink Rosé all year round, when the warmer weather rolls around it just becomes a no-brainer. This weekend is supposed to be toasty so we’ve gathered up a parcel of pinks to pour on Saturday. We have 5 very diverse wines from France, Spain & Italy that we think will delight and surprise your palate. They might make you blush.
2017 Villa des Anges Cinsault Rosé $11
100% Cinsault! A light-bodied wine, intensely crisp and vividly fresh, it offers complex aromas of strawberries and red currants, with a hint of quince.
2017 Commanderie de la Bargemone Coteaux d’Aix en Provence $15
30% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon
The Bargemone is our go to rosé. It has aromas of wild strawberries and red currants, with a light, floral character and a crisp, bone-dry palate with a complex long finish. Classic Provence!
2016 Bodegas Muga Rosado $16 750-ml —– 1.5ltr $35
Garnacha, Tempranillo and Viura
Muga makes one of the most distinctively delicious rosados in Rioja. It is a style referred to locally as “clarete,” which is a lighter type of rosé made by combining white wine with direct press rosé, as opposed to the saignee method where color is derived from a pre-fermentation maceration on the skins of the grapes. It sees a brief period of time in used oak barrels. The wine shows very precise, tangy small red berry fruits, as well as some citric and apricot notes from the white wine component. This is a crisp, bracing, and unbeatable rosé.
2017 La Spinetta, Il Rosé di Casanova $20
Sangiovese
The “Rhino Rosé” has aromas of sliced peaches, flowers, stones and chalk. It is very complex with full body and round yet agile and dynamic intensity, salty, linear, energetic backbone of acidity, great structure and lovely finish.
2014 Murgo Brut Rosé $30
Nerello Mascalese
This is one of the most distinctive and special sparkling wines in the world, a traditional-method bubbly made on the slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna from Nerello Mascalese, then aged on its lees for 3 years. This has a gorgeous faded antique rose color, with notes of ginger, strawberries, and pomegranate.
Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2pm until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5pm.