Rose fans, it's safe to come out now

Its funny, the ideas people get in their heads. „Real men don’t eat quiche,“ for example.

And what is quiche? Bacon, eggs and cheese in a pie crust, for Pete’s sake. Enough fat and cholesterol for the most unrepentant Cro-Magnon.

Same goes for rose wine. Gets no respect. Real men aren’t supposed to drink it. Real women, either, unless they want to be branded „ladies who lunch.“

It’s gotten so bad that last year, California rose makers and fans formed a self-help group defiantly called RAP — „Rose Avengers and Producers.“ They got together again last month in San Francisco to taste dry roses from 45 U.S. and international producers, and, I guess, lean on each other for support.

Said cofounder Paige Poulos: „We realized that the event empowered people who were shy about their interest to be bold about it in public.“

Afraid to be outed. How sad is that?

The problem, as I’ve said many times, is this: Real, dry rose is a marvel — crisp, tart, loaded with fruit, pairing with a wide range of foods including sushi, sandwiches, fish, light meats, shellfish, fruit plates and salads. But they’ve all been tarred by the „blush“ zinfandel brush.

Far too many blush zinfandels are made sweet and bland — wines for people who’d really rather drink Kool-Aid. Worse, some are jumping on the cutesy bandwagon, with cartoon-animal labels and self-descriptions like „rosylicious.“

One noted wine writer who understands rose’s place in the world — especially in places like South Florida — is Jancis Robinson. In „The Oxford Companion to Wine,“ she writes: „In France, roses are common in warmer, southern regions, where there is local demand for a dry wine refreshing enough to be drunk on a hot summer day but which still bears some relation to the red wine so revered by the French.“

Even red grapes have white juice. It’s turned into red wine because the grapes — zinfandel, merlot, grenache, cabernet sauvignon — are crushed, then soaked, or „macerated,“ on their red skins, sometimes for weeks. Shorten that soak to hours or days and you’ve got pink wine.

A few — notably the $90-to-$250-a-bottle rose champagnes that are among the finest bubblies in the world — are made by blending a little red wine into a lot of white wine.

Rose pinot grigio is unique. Though we think of the grape as white, it’s actually a dull salmon color, and long maceration turns the resulting wine the same color.

How to know you’re buying a real, dry rose and not the blush stuff? Look on the label for the alcohol level. If it’s 12 percent or above, it’s dry, because you have to ferment all the sugar out of a wine to get it to that level. If it’s less than 12 percent — and some plunge to 9 — it’s probably sweet.

But, hey, I don’t want to sound like a wine snob here. You like blush zin, you drink it. Just don’t ask me to ride in your Pinto.

RECOMMENDED:

2005 El Coto de Rioja Rosado, Rioja Alta, Spain (12.5 percent alcohol, tempranillo, garnacha grapes): bone dry; tart cherry flavors; crisp and fruity; $10.

2005 Banfi Centine Rose, Tuscany, Italy, (12.5 percent alcohol, sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, merlot): rich; dry; intense cherry and cranberry flavors; crisp; $12.

2005 Chateau d“Aqueria, Appellation Tavel Controlee, France (13.5 percent alcohol, grenache, syrah, cinsault, clairette): candy-apple red color; tart apple flavors; crisp and full-bodied; $16.

2005 Julian Chivite’s „Gran Fuedo“ Rose, Navarra, Spain (12.5 percent alcohol, garnacha tinta): transparent light pink color; sweet-tart cherry flavors; crisp; $12.

2005 Folonari Pink Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, IGT (11.5 percent alcohol): light salmon color; slightly off-dry; strawberry flavors; soft and light; $8.

2005 Jaboulet Cotes du Rhone Parallele 45 Rose (13.5 percent alcohol, grenache, cinsault, syrah): full-bodied; cinnamon and red raspberry flavors; crisp; $11.

2005 La Scolca Rosa Vino da Tavola Rosato, Piedmont, Italy (12 percent alcohol, cortese, nebbiolo, barbera): light pink color; light-bodied; crisp, tart cherry flavors; $13.

1998 Pol Roger Brut Rose, Epernay, France (pinot noir, chardonnay): intensely crisp, with tart cranberry and cream flavors and a hint of tannin; full-bodied; powerful; $92.

Source: nwitimes.com