Rosô wines can be made from several different grape varieties, but ros้ made
from Syrah grapes can often be the lightest, fruitiest and freshest. It’s odd
really when you think about it, because red Syrah is often a big and beefy wine.
So, why the paradox? Well, the juice that’s pressed out of red grapes is
actually colourless. The colour - and much of the wine’s taste and character -
comes from the grape skins and stalks. When ros้ wines are made, the wine-makers
only allow the skins a very short contact time with the grape juice and
sometimes only a small proportion of it. The contact time can vary between a
couple of hours or several days. As a result, very little of the red colour -
and the taste - gets into the wine.
Claudio Gonçalves, Winemaker
at Bodegas y Viñedos De Aguirre
Ros้ wines are some of most versatile wines around and they
can make a refreshing accompaniment to many kinds of food. A cold, fresh, dry
ros้ will enhance even a simple ham, chicken or roast-beef sandwich and it’s the
perfect barbecue wine to drink with mundane things like hamburgers, hot dogs and
french-fries. Ros้s go well with many vegetarian and Asian dishes too. Beware of
American ros้s (sometimes called “blush” wines) which are sometimes very sweet
and about as interesting as a lollipop.
Santa Loreto Rosô Syrah 2011,
Chile (Villa Bt. 349)
This excellent wine comes from the well-known Chilean
company, Bodegas y Vi๑edos De Aguirre, located in the picturesque Villa Alegre
Village in the Maule Valley. The company also makes brands like Sol de Chile
and Alma de Chile and it has won many international awards. Their
vineyards are 320 feet above sea level and lie just 60 miles from the Pacific
Ocean. To preserve the freshness, the grapes were harvested by hand early in the
morning.
The wine looks lovely in the glass: a vibrant cherry-pink
with orange flecks and the sweet scent of red fruits, strawberries and cherries.
There’s also that dash of peppery spiciness which often comes with a Syrah. This
Chilean ros้ is a bit more full-bodied than its French cousin and although the
fruit is well forward, the mouth-feel quite assertive with an attractive tang of
acidity. You might pick up dry herbs on the taste. There’s a very long, dry
fresh finish with just a gentle hint of tannin.
If you’ve tended to avoid ros้s on the grounds that they lack
flavour and character, this dry and gently assertive wine (it’s 13.5% alcohol)
may be much more to your liking.
Les Garrigues Rosô Syrah, 2010,
France (Wine Connection Bt. 449)
This wine is named after the garrigue; that aromatic
Mediterranean landscape rich with the scent of thyme, rosemary, lavender and
juniper. This lovely wine is made from grapes grown in small vineyards dotted
around the hills of the 2,700 feet high Mont Tauch in the Languedoc region of
Southern France. Mont Tauch is also the name of one of France’s leading
cooperatives and the mountain towers above the cooperative’s state-of-the-art
winery in the village of Tuchan.
This wine is a beautiful orangey-pink colour with a
delightfully fresh, floral aroma and the scent of red fruit. There are grassy
hints of raspberry and redcurrants too. The taste is sumptuously fruity with a
very soft mouth-feel and hardly any tannin. It’s very supple and light bodied,
with a fruity dry finish. The wine is perfectly dry, but the fruit on the taste
gives a sense of sweetness.
The makers suggest that you could drink it “with spicy
dishes, barbecues or summer salads” but it’s lovely just to drink on its own,
despite the 13% alcohol content. It would make a delightful ap้ritif. The label
recommends that you serve it about 8ฐ-10ฐC but honestly, I’d suggest that you
serve it even colder at refrigerator temperature (that’s about 4ฐC) so that the
aromas and flavour develop in the glass as the wine warms up, which in this
climate they will do all too quickly.
The wine feels fresh, light and young; just like I used to be
in the days when Doris Day was singing that famous song back in the old days.
