Cousin (and yes, former Bachelor) Andrew Firestone gives us the scoop on the best wines for summer....
Ahhhh…..Summer. This is the one season of the year where really anything goes. If you ever wanted to try a new sport, experiment with a new fashion, travel to an exotic place, or even give yourself a new nickname….this is the time of year to do it. I am pretty sure that there must be some sort of study that was done by some fancy college that proves that your ratio of fun per day is way higher in the summer than any other time of year. Another result of that fancy experiment was that you take more photos of yourself doing cool stuff during the summer months as compared the rest of the year….combined. Yeah. I know. Pretty interesting. Then, once, I talked to this doctor at this music festival who told me that the human body does not age one single day through the entire summer. Fact. Yup, he was a doctor, and he told me that. So, it has to be true. So, the only logical thing to do this summer is go out and have way too much fun, because it doesn’t count against you, only for you.
Now, as you are reading this amazing blog, I am sure your creative juices are percolating as you are starting to plan for your summer adventures. Concerts, road trips, beach days, lake days, the occasional wedding (maybe even your own), hikes, and other assorted adventures that are made easier by long warm summer days. OK. Now as you are imagining those various activities, aren’t you starting to get thirsty?
If you are not, then stop reading, and give me 20 push-ups. That should get you thirsty for a nice glass of chilled Rose.
Without a doubt, this time of year is made for pink wine. Now, unfortunately in this country, pink wines (Rose for you snobs) have gotten a bad rap. Due to an unfortunate mishap at Sutter Home winery back in the mid 1970’s, where they experienced “stuck fermentation” while they were making a Zinfandel Rose……..White Zin was born. Essentially the yeast died before full fermentation had completed, leaving the winemaker with a very sweet, very pink, abomination of a wine. White Zin is to winemakers what Snooki is to Shakespeare.
So for many years, anything pink, especially from California has essentially been shunned. The image has been burned into our collective minds of little blue haired ladies with buckets of quarters and a 2-inch ash dripping from their Kool menthol, sipping plastic glasses of White Zin with ice, as they play the slots at some dimly lit casino in Laughlin. Therefore the winemaking community has had to work very hard to convince people that just because it is pink, it doesn’t suck. For the longest time the only place you would see any pink wine is in the parking lot for a Lynard Skynard concert, where boxes of Almaden with the built in pour spout were displayed on the backs of tailgates of large American trucks.
Roses in fact, are one of the most versatile wines you could ever care to find. A rose is simply a red wine (Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot, etc) that is crushed and pressed, and the juice is removed from the skins after just a short time. The lack of extended contact with the juice and the skin turns the juice a slight pink color. You get a short amount of time for the juice to extract both color, as well as some of the tannins found in red skins, so the result is a pink colored wine that has limited tannin.
Now, most people expect that a rose is going to be really sweet. However, that is not often the case. Usually you are going to find that most Roses are actually fairly dry (low sugar), but have the most amazing fruit component. The great thing about rose is that they are best served cold, so they are great with summer picnics, taking out on the boat, or sitting on porch as you are waiting for the bbq to heat up. Another thing about Rose is that you are not going to have the residual sugar of a Pinot Gris or a Riesling, which can be difficult to drink in warm weather. Do you know that feeling you get in your mouth after eating too many Skittles? Where your spit gets really thick and hard to swallow? That is what ends up happening when you drink a wine that has too much residual sugar, especially on a hot day. You will find that Rose will have some amazing aromatics (smells really good) along with a crisp palate (the way it tastes and feels in your mouth) that make it perfect for everything you can think to pack in a picnic basket.
So here are a few of my favorites, and please note that I am TOTALLY biased. These are all wines that come from the Central Coast of California. This is where my family makes wine, and so obviously it is the best.
This is a classic Rhone blend of Syrah, Mouvedre, Grenach and Cinsault. It is light and crisp, with hints of grapefruit and citrus.
Though the name of this wine means “wild boar” in French, this Grenach and Syrah Rose does not resemble its namesake. This wine is fresh and fruit forward, a nice acidity that is very refreshing.
This is Seth Kunin’s second Rose he has made, and it is made from Santa Barbara County fruit. I enjoyed a bottle of this wonderful stuff last night and it had a really tropical aroma of kiwi and strawberry. Highly recommend.
Cheers,
Cousin Andrew
