Sunday, May 13, 2012

Think Pink Rose Wine Class at Bottle Cellars

STLwinegirl, Angela Ortmann, is now hosting classes all over St. Louis, including south county, at a cute wine shop called Bottle Cellars. The store is bright and inviting and is the right size so you are not overwhelmed by too many bottles to select from.

This month’s class focused on rose or “pink wines” and it was the perfect topic now that spring and warmer temperatures are here. Like any other wines with the same varietal or style, they are not all the same! This was the biggest point I learned that night since every wine was so much different than the others, whether by color, taste, or type of grape they were made from.

We started with the Mirabelle Sparkling Rose from California and this was definitely one of my favorites mostly because it’s bubbles. This rose had more of a salmon color and smelled fruity and yeasty, but had a drier taste to it. Not the overpowering sweetness like I had expected.

Next up was the Chateau Revelette Rose from Provence, France, which had a pale pink color and was mostly made from the Granache grape. While this wine had a lot more of a stone fruit or floral aroma, it definitely was among the drier wines. I think this would be perfect for regular red wine drinkers!

My favorite wine of the night was the Charles & Charles Rose from Washington state. This was the perfect balance between not too dry and not too sweet. The wine still had a good body with plenty of flavor, but there was a lot more fruit to it without the sweet flavor. I enjoyed it so much that I bought two bottles!

Going back to France, we tried the Domaine Lafond Tavel Rose, from the Rhone Valley. I just assumed I would enjoy this wine because the Rhone is one of my favorite regions, but this wine was a dark, ruby color and smelled of dark cherries. That was a good warning because it had a very dry and full bodied taste to it and the tannins were a bit too much for me.

We finished the night with the Jelly Jar Rose from Lake County California, which is made from white zinfidel, believe it or not. It had a typical pink coloring to it but once again, no overpowering sweetness. In fact, it tasted dry and crisp with a citrusy flavor to it and I definitely would recommend this one as well.

Resources:

Photo by Angela Ortmann

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com

Bottle Cellars = http://bottlecellars.com

1 comment:

  1. Which Washington winery? (Say that five times fast.) Gotta love Washington wines. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.