Rose: The Perfect Outdoor Wine

It was brutally hot. Not a breath of wind stirred the leaves on the olive trees as we walked through the weathered courtyard of the 250-year-old villa and into an un-air-conditioned room at the Fattoria di Ama in Chianti.

On a table were bottles of red wine to be evaluated.

“You don’t, by any chance, make any rose?” I asked, nervously.

Marco Pallanti, the wine maker, sheepishly admitted that Ama did make a few bottles of a rose, but that it wasn’t something he wanted to display for the visiting wine writer. It was, after all, rose, and he pronounced it with a certain diffidence, to distance himself from the idea.

Prodded, he finally, almost apologetically, produced a chilled bottle of Fattoria di Ama Rosatto. The cool wine with its fragrant floral strawberry aroma and fresh, lively--and dry--taste was a wonderful respite from the heat of the day.

An hour later, sitting on a sun-baked patio, we tossed ice cubes into the rose and finished the bottle. Rose has always been a warm-weather favorite of mine.

Unfortunately a spate of sweet, undistinguished roses of the last decade and earlier, including--but not limited to--sweet, semi-sparkling roses from Portugal, left the public with the impression that anything with the word rose on the label was wine to be scorned. Thus did rose fall from grace.

Now, thanks to a wave of interest in California for wines blended from Rhone varieties, rose wine is making a comeback.

The roses we’re talking about here are not the insipidly sweet, cloying wines of the past that had a pink-orange color, often had vin in front of rose , and sold for $1.99 a bottle. This wine is dry, truly fruity and has such freshness you’re tempted to drink it by itself. Or even with ice cubes.

The two best wines of the new crop of pink wines have just been released, both from the 1990 vintage: Joseph Phelps Grenache Rose and McDowell Valley Vineyards Grenache Rose. What sets these beautiful wines apart from past efforts with the previously ill-regarded Grenache grape is that they were made from cool-climate fruit.

In the past, many Grenache Roses were made from grapes grown in the hot San Joaquin Valley and thus had a cooked or candied aroma. The Phelps wine, which also carries the proprietary designation of Vin du Mistral, and the McDowell Valley, named Les Vieux Cepages, are fresh as a bowl of just-picked berries.

The Phelps wine ($9) is the more substantial of the two. Rich with the scent of raspberries and cranberries, there is a hint of pepper and a taste that’s lush and rich with great acidity to match with food. It’s literally half way between white and red. The McDowell ($7.50) is more delicate, with an amazing floral note reminiscent of apple blossoms or fresh carnations, and a graceful texture--a white wine with the benefits of red wine complexity.

Try these wines with grilled chicken seasoned with oregano, garlic and lemon juice; baked salmon with basil; roast or grilled fish with thyme or rosemary, or mild sausages. They’ll work equally well with Asian foods.

Craig Williams, Phelps’ wine maker, made his wine from 85% Grenache, 13% Mourvedre (a black Rhone variety made as a rose) and 2% Cinsault, another Rhone blending grape. John Buechsenstein’s McDowell wine is 95% Grenache and 5% Syrah.

“This wine is made in the Tavel rose style as opposed to the Bandol type that’s made with multiple varieties,” said Buechsenstein.

Williams said the idea for a truly dry rose came to him one warm spring day when he was on a sales call in San Francisco with sales director Bruce Neyers.

“Bruce and I stopped for lunch at the Hayes Street Grill (in San Francisco) and had a glass of a Tavel rose, and to be quite honest, it was a little tired, kind of orange in color. And Bruce and I were talking about the appropriateness of this type of wine, and I said, ‘I can make this kind of wine.’ ” The 1989 Phelps rose, his first, is still a delicious wine, having taken on richness with an extra year in the bottle; the just-released 1990 is even deeper and richer.

Years ago, many producers made roses in California, most of them generic. I recall such lovely wines as Burgess Grenache Rose, Mondavi Gamay Rose, and Petite Sirah Roses from Field Stone and Dry Creek. But throughout the years rose has given way to the so-called “blush” wines that I assume are called that because they are embarrassed about their lack of aroma or taste.

One of the last legitimate pink wines on the market before the Rhone offerings started being made is Simi’s fresh and elegant Rose of Cabernet ($7). Though some vintages in the mid-1980s were thinner and lighter than they had been, the 1989 is richer.

“The state of the market for dry rose is still not easy,” said Buechsenstein. “But what we’ve done is put the word ‘rose’ back on the front label. We’re trying to re-introduce dry rose as a legitimate wine type. This is not a blush wine. Once you taste it, you’ll see the difference.” Mainly, he said, it’s drier than his past wines.

Another rose to look for is the delightful 1989 Ridge Carignane Rose ($8). It is a bit darker than others on the market, and though it has slightly less fruit in the aroma, it is richer and more complex.

Importer and wine merchant Kermit Lynch in Berkeley carries three imported roses--1989 Domaine de Fontsainte from the Languedoc, $7.50; a Bandol Rose, 1990 Domaine Tempier, $13.50; and 1989 Chinon Rose from Charles Joguet, $9.95. Lynch said demand for the Tempier Rose is so strong he has orders for dozens of cases of it well before delivery, expected May 7. Some Los Angeles shops carry Kermit Lynch wines.

A wine similar to the Tempier rose, one that’s become popular in the United States, is Domaines Ott Rose, designated Clair de Noir. Demand here has driven the price for the 1989 Ott up to $27.50 a bottle, though it sells for much less in France.

Another Rhone rose with a wide following is the 1989 Guigal Tavel Rose. It is currently out of stock at the wholesaler, but will be back in the market in a few weeks. It retails for $16 a bottle.

A number of wineries make a dry “blush” wine from red grapes, including Sanford, Saintsbury and the popular Vin Gris de Cigare of Bonny Doon Winery. It is a Mourvedre and Grenache blend, but it is not reminiscent of rose as much as it is of a dry white wine with red wine character.

Some hot day, try a dry rose in place of Chardonnay and see what a perfect place it has in the wine firmament.