A Return to Roses? (PB)

After many years of eschewing the overly sweet, cloying, pale red soda pop wine called “Rose” I thought I would give some a second chance. Having read an article or two on some roses with character I stopped in a wine shop in Rockland Maine and grabbed a $14 bottle. (I never thought I would lay out that kind of change for a rose.) But it turned out to be quite a nice surprise. So now I am looking for others to see what has transpired over the ensuing two decades of rose evolution.

Traveling out to Minnesota to visit (billy) of this blog, I grabbed three to run a little flight of these wines. None cost more than $11. The results are listed below.

Chateau De Micouleau 2005 Rose wine review by (PB)
This surprising Grand Vin De Bordeaux is very pretty in the glass with a tinge of watermelon hue in the glass.

It has a fruity, gentle strawberry aroma with a gentle palate but quite refreshing and well made. It is a blend of the class Bordeaux grapes used in making the very best wines of the world consisting of Merlot (70%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (20%) and Cabernet Franc (10%).

Rose D’Anjou 2004 Barton-Guestier wine review by (PB)
Made from Cabernet Franc (typically a blending grape) and Crolleau—which I’ve never heard of and cannot even find it on line. This wine is quite pale in the glass with a watermelon juice hue.

The bouquet is creamy scented and less fruity than the Bordeaux. It is a little more puckery than the Bordeaux and basically more subtle with a clear cinnamony layer emerging after a few minutes. It is just delightful and my palate is being won over by rose for a summer time aperitif or lunch/dinner al fresco under blue skies. Raise a glass!

Tin Roof Russian River Pinot Noir Rose 2003 wine review by (PB)
Smells grapey on the nose but under whelming in all ways. A better food wine than by itself but all around not worth remembering. Even with a surrounding alfresco dinner at the Minneapolis Arboretum surrounded by my grand children and son and daughter-in-law, this wine is blah. Reminds me of why I stayed away from roses for so long. This wine was clearly the loser in this flight.