Happy Rose Season!
My unabashed love of Rose, a few thoughts and recommendations
As I walked out of K&L on Saturday August 30th after a great 2022 Bordeaux tasting (more on that later) it hit me; the air was toasty-warm and with just a hint of humidity for the first time this summer. I was thrilled as I thought that our fabled “Indian Summer” had finally arrived! It lasted for just over a day. Nevertheless, for me it signaled the official opening of Rose season.
All summer long our natural air conditioner / marine layer or “Karl the Fog” as he is known here in Northern California has remained large and in charge yielding much cooler temperatures than normal this summer. The grapes have been a few weeks behind for most of the season but without any major issues if lucky to be unaffected by the fires. The cool weather has at least been helpful in that regard and my heart goes out to everyone that has suffered any damage.
It has been hard not to notice Karl this summer wherever you live in the Bay Area. San Francisco is never the point of reference for the wine but it has had only two 80 degree days so far this summer! Some of the warmest cities in the bay area like Concord in the east bay and Santa Rosa in wine country did not experience even one 100 degree day in June, July and August, very rare. I’ve lived in the south bay city of Redwood City for 23 years now where the city motto is “Weather Best by Government Test”. In that time there has always been at least 2-3 sometimes 4 heat spikes where it can be high 90’s even 100 where we sleep with no covers and (no AC here) with all the windows open and fan’s going. Tank tops, swimsuits and flip flops are the norm. Thankfully this usually last for 2 day’s before Karl and his very cool-fresh air kicks in and cools everyone off. This is truly one of the greatest aspects of living in the Bay Area but no big spikes yet!
Indian Summer may be a bit late, but it usually gets here and I am betting it does and warms the vines to full ripeness as it kicks off the Fall Rose Season!
I’m often asked what is my favorite wine; well after over 45 years in the wine trade and over 150,000 tasted this is a complicated question with a few different answers. Most people quickly assume it has to be Bordeaux as it has been such a huge part of my wine life. Of course Bordeaux as well as Napa and Sonoma are very special to me but at this stage of my life, almost all red wine reminds me a bit of…… work! I know that sounds arrogant, but please don’t get me wrong, you stay in the wine business for the great Red wines of the world and I feel blessed to have had the chance to taste so many great ones. Zinfandel is the wine that hooked into wine and remains so very close to my heart, I still love it!
I enjoy Chardonnay but hardly ever buy it, mostly for guest. I love Sauvignon Blanc and blends. Especially the towns of the Loire Valley, California and Bordeaux, those are my aperitif wines year round; but this time of year Rose starts to take over and last me all through the holiday season
I’m an unabashed Rose lover, so the answer at this point of my life just maybe Rose! Great Rose comes from all over the world, made in so many styles, is so refreshing that and goes with just about any food combination you can possibly throw at it. It is also hard to beat a relaxing chilled glass in the quiet of the late afternoon shadows all by itself.
I doubt it really does not have any correlation but it's funny that my first and second taste of wine in my life was indeed Rose wine. The first one was at 14 when my cousin Bonesy from Philadelphia came to visit us. She was the coolest one in the family, a young pretty stewardess for TWA and I remember my father saying he had to make a special stop on the way home from the airport to get her wine. It was called Mateus Rose, it came from Portugal in a weird squatty bottle with old buildings on it. I remember it as been a weak tasting wine with a rose-brown color. Apparently this was the hot wine on the market that year and the next year she brought Lancers also from Portugal. This wine was in a ceramic looking bottle and as I recall it was brighter-fresher and a bit of fizzyness; I liked it better. I would run into these wines again in my wine life a few years later.
Very early in my K&L career another Rose wine would rock the wine world, Sutter Home White Zinfandel, and I was front and center. As the story goes, the wine was a mistake at the winery where someone accidentally bled off a tank of Zinfandel that led to millions and millions of dollars being made and untold millions of bottles sold. I’ve often wondered who that person was? Was he fired or hired?
Believe it or not the first few vintages of this wine were just great! The wine was bright pink with super fresh fruit and just a little hint of residual sugar. Everyone loved it!
At the time Sutter Home also made one of California’s greatest red wines, the Zinfandel from the Deaver and J.Ferrero vineyard. The 1974 was one of the wines that hooked me into wine, incredible wine with big, dark, tasty ripe fruit and 13% alcohol. That wine was on a strict 3 cases a week allocation, even way back then and soon the White Zin was also severely allocated!
I thought I was pretty cagey in those days, this was the new hot thing and I always had a bottle in my fridge at home and in the cooler when we would be on the road just in case. Those were the “Disco Days” and there was always the possibility of a late night after party. It was a good move!
I was on the phone selling wine to a customer one day and he gave me the shipping address as Sutter Home. I asked him how long he had worked there and he said a long time. I told him about my love for the red Zinfnadel and the first White Zin’s; he say’s “I put three kids thru college because of that wine”.
After the first vintages of the White Zin the wine actually got less and less bright pink to hardly any color at all and the quality dove into decline. Quite a shame, but nevertheless, it remains one of the most important and successful wines in California history as it opened the door to so many new wine drinkers and in the .750 ml size. The size was important in those days! Most wine was drank out of 3.0 and 4.0 jug bottles. It was also the days of Summit Wine in a 3.0 Box; this was a super fun revelation that could be enjoyed in two seconds! I had to go online to see if Mateus, Lancers and Sutter Home Wt. Zin are even produced today. Apparently they are.
When I returned from my first trip to Bordeaux in 1990 I told the owners we need more Rose because everyone in France is drinking it! Outside of sparklers we may have had 3 still Rose in the selection at the time and was told no they don’t sell! The deal in those days was if my boss Clyde listened to me and bought the wines, I was responsible for the sales. I was not worried and was sure that the category would explode and it did. In America we always follow the great trends of Europe and soon the Rose’s were flying out the door. We now have over 100 in stock Rose wines, Champagnes and Sparklers.
So yes I’m a big Rose lover. Every year starting in the spring I buy a mixed case of different Rose as they arrive and try to find my favorites to stock up on. I also love that there is such a wide range of styles from around the world for different occasions. Here is how my research went this summer.
I started with Box wine. Not just any box wine, darn near $100 a box for the delicious Ode to LuLu Rhone Blend from the great team at Bedrock Wine Company. Every weekend at our public tastings I sing the praises and respect for all of the Bedrock wines and sell them with gusto! The box did not last long and I just bought another!
K&L buyer Keith Mabry always has a diverse selection of Provence Rose some offering incredible value. Wines under $20 the likes of Domaine Jacourette, La Chappel Saint Victor and Domaine la Colombe. Of course there is Domaine Ott and they don’t need me so I stay away from Ott but adore Domaine Pradeaux for a treat.
I’ve found I may love Pinot Noir Rose the most. From the Loire Valley you have beautiful rose from Sancerre producers like Domaine Cherrier, Aurore Dezat, Domaine de Cotes Blanches, Clef du Recit, Vacheron and one of the most important wines ever here at K&L, Domaine Franc Millett.
Three Rose’s have dominated my summer. The first one is Birichino “Vin Gris” from the Santa Cruz/Central Coast, an old vine Rhone blend. The second is the elegant-fruity and fresh Pinot Noir Rose from Bravium Vineyards “Wiley Vineyard” located in the Anderson Valley, both are so tasty and incredible value. Third is a Rhone Blend and indeed from the Rhone itself and superb winemaker Rudolph de Pins from Chateaux Montfaucon. This wine from Lirac is bright pink with good strong fruit. I love it, our customers love it but we all despise the fake wax top that so many wineries are using these days. What a mess, it gets all over the place.
One of the great surprises of the summer were two different expressions of delicious Pinot Noir Rose from a good customer and home winemaker David Mayer at Four Friends Vineyards. Bravo David!
With the holidays and entertainment season right around the corner the Rose at my house gets darker and with bubbles! I will never forget the excitement on my one and only visit in 1998 to Tavel, the unofficial home of Rose. I remember it well, it was a cold and a first thing in the morning appointment and I had 20 chilled Rose in front of me. Tavel is on my bucket list to visit again. Since that time the blend of the “Cuvee Royale” from Les Vigerons de Tavel has been one of my favorite wines. Dark hued and full flavored, this wine is not for the weak and timid. A wine with such great intrigue for $16.99 it may make you want to do the Tango! It’s also the perfect wine at my pre-game 49er tailgate parties!
The spectrum of Rose Bubbles available and the quality associated with them is far wider than still wine and flat out amazing. Sparkling wines under $20 from producers like Pierre Sparr and Charles Baur from Alsace, Louis Bouillot from Burgundy and Antech “Cuvee Emotion Rose $17.99 from Limoux are oustanding. I rotate these throughout the season to everyone's pleasure as well as myself!
When it comes to fine Rose Champagne for the special moments “Champagne Gary Westby” always has us covered. His selection of NV Michel Arnold Rose “Genese” is phenomenal for $37.99. Billecart-Salmon 2015 Vintage Rose $115.99 is elegant and fine. The NV Laurent Perrier Rose $84.99 is on the richer side and absolutely delicious, I can’t wait to try it again!
The greatness of the 2022 Bordeaux vintage was on full display when I poured the Ch, Branaire Ducru $59.99 and Ch. Leoville Barton $109.99. Seriously my friends, in today’s world, these two wines are about as great as your money can buy. We also tasted the Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtess de Lalande $249.99, a classic Pichon Lalande!
Fun Facts…For many years now the story of the day K&L Liquors changed the name of the business to K&L Wine Merchants is told on the Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande website!
We will visit Billecart-Salmon for a lunch experience on Wednesday December 10th and visit Champagne Laurent Perrier on Friday December 12th on my “Taste the Greats of Champagne Tour”. I hope you can join us to Champagne this year or on one of my two “Taste the Greats of Bordeaux Tour” in June or September 2026.
Until next time…Rock, Roll and Rose! Go Giants and Niners, Cheers! Ralph Sands