Whether it’s on a t-shirt or a meme, that mantra rings true for so many. Rosé is the wine you can literally drink all day: on your lunch break on the back patio, filling your coffee mug on an afternoon dog walk, off camera in a wine glass on a zoom call, during happy hour after work, while cooking dinner, and of course pairing with dinner. Rosé always has you covered, and I mean always. For years I’ve always said that the two best wild cards in pairing wines are rosé and bubbles. Both go with almost everything and both are welcomed by everyone at any time of day or night.

And luckily great rosé is made all over the world. We have outstanding local rosés from right here in Ontario, or top imports from Southern France, or funky cool weird rosés from Austria, Chile and every other part of the world. Most rosés are made in the saignée method, where you’re bleeding off some of the pink juice in contact with the red skins, or by allowing only a few hours of skin contact on the juice so it does turn all the way red, just a bit pink, then fermenting. While some rosés are made with the addition of some white wine, most quality rosés are made in these other two ways. So because we had a nice 35 degree heat spike last week as a harbinger of warm weather to come, so this week we’re looking at a bunch of great rosés to help you get through the summer. Click on the links for more info, or shoot me a note with any questions!

CAZAL VIEL ROSÉ

One of my many backyard bottles. So good.

The vines on this historic estate were first planted by the Romans before the collapse of their empire. Later they were cultivated by monks of Abbaye de Fontcaude dating as far back as the early 1200’s until the French Revolution. During the revolution, when clerical land became public the Miquel family then acquired the property and have been making wine there ever since. You may have had other amazing wines from Laurent Miquel, but this is the family’s most historic estate and it is famous for it’s renowned rosé. If you like the light, dry rosés from provence, this is right up your alley. This estate is in the Languedoc, southern France on the Mediterranean just like Provence, but just a few hours further west, but a similar in style. Think pale, light pink colour with hints of orange, and a dry crisp, mineral palate with notes of fresh crushed strawberries. This has been my go-to rosé for almost 10 years. And so many restaurants have relied on this as their top quality staple for an inexpensive rosé. If you’re having a small social distance gathering, if you’re on your deck, if you’re on a dock, if you’re in your garden, if you’re having apps, if you’re just chilling out…this is my go-to recommendation, my personal rosé-all-day since probably 2014. This is literally hard to beat, especially for the price.

Cazal Viel, Syrah Rosé, Languedoc, France, 2018 | $15.99 x12

LOS VASCOS ROSÉ

Beautiful backdrop of the Los Vascos grapes against the Andes.

Time for a choose your own adventure tasting note: Ever heard of Domaine Lafite Rothschild? If yes, skip down to the next paragraph. If not, read on. Lafite Rothschild was one of the original four First Growth of the 1855 classification of Bordeaux. These are the wines that hit the market today at $1000+ a bottle, even before being marked up by the secondary market, auctions, or restaurants. Once the wine of kings, today the wine of bankers and millionaires, historically one of the very finest wineries in the world, bar none.

In 1988 Lafite Rothschild took over the historic Los Vascos estate which was named literally for “The Basques” from Spain who pioneered the Cañeten Valley in northern Chile. This was an early investment into the next big upcoming wine region before Chile blew up on the international stage. They replanted some vineyards and kept some of the oldest vines in the area. They spent years learning and understanding the Chilean terroir, then bringing centuries of top French winemaking pedigree to their project before becoming internationally recognized. They now have an estate that has vines up to 70 years old and are making some of the finest wine in Chile backed by the one of the finest wineries in the world. Luckily for us it comes with a Chilean price tag too, and not a First Growth Boredeaux!

This rosé is super dry. On first sip its almost effervescent. It’s like lakefront fresh sea breeze on the nose with floral and rustic herbaceous notes like Liliac bushes on the forest edge. Complex and super crisp with notes of fresh red fruit like pomegranates and raspberries accompanied by orange blossoms carrying through to the palate. It’s 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah inthe blend. This is brand new to our portfolio and already I’m in love with this wine. And there is a case enroute to my place for this week too! Highly recommended for someone looking for very dry, light, crisp rosé.

Viña Los Vascos, Rosé, Colchagua, Chile, 2018 | $17.99 x12

TAWSE, ‘QUARRY ROAD’ PINOT NOIR ROSÉ

Tawse is one of Canada’s best wineries. Pretty much everything they do is outstanding, and this rosé is no exception. They make several rosés but this is made exclusively from their Quarry Road vineyard Pinot Noir. Quarry Road has become a famous vineyard in Niagara for it’s minerality and one of the first certified biodynamic vineyards in Niagara. As a 100% Pinot Noir rosè this show notes of roses, wild strawberries, and pink grapefruit. All of the Tawse rosés are killer, their Grower’s Blend Rosé is outstanding as well, but while it’s still available the Quarry Road is one of my favourite bottles. While still a paler shade of light pink, there’s a bit more of a flamingo hue to it. A tad brighter in colour and a tad bigger in body. Still dry, but with a little more texture and roundness. Probably the wine with the most body of all the recommendations today, still dry but a bit richer and will definitely play well with a variety of food pushing into fish and white meats.

Tawse, ‘Quarry Road’ Pinot Noir Rosé, Niagara, Ontario, 2018 | $19.95 x12

CHATEAU DU TRIGNON, COTES DU RHONE ROSÉ

Pairs perfectly with pictures of lilacs.

Trignon is our amazing main supplier of southern Rhone wines. As Gigondas specialists they have amazing Cotes du Rhone reds that have been private customer and restaurant favourites for years (side note: if you want a great Cotes du Rhone, you can never go wrong with Trignon!). And the Rhone grape varieties work just as well in a rosé format as they do in red, but this one does not include Mourvedre, just some Cinsault to go with the Grenache and Syrah.

This is also quite a light and fresh drinking rosé with some layered complexity and minerality being aged on it’s lees (the spent yeast cells after fermentation). If you love Cotes du Rhone and you love rosé, this is for you!

Chateau du Trignon, Cotes du Rhone Rosé, 2018 | $19.99 x12

DE MARTINO, ‘GALLARDIA’ ROSÉ

More from Chile! But this time from the south, in the very first wine region that Conquistadors planted grapes, the Itata Valley. The De Martino family has been making wine in Chile for nearly a century and are regarded as one of the country’s top wineries as they’ve worked with plots of land literally all over the country. We’re talking like 300 small vineyard plots all over. And in recent years when the next generation began taking over, they were more interested in natural wines and in the original history of Chilean wine…so they wanted to go south and make a series of wines from the craddle of the Chilean wine industry in Itata. While Pais (or Mission grape) was the first thing planted there, it is more rare and harder to find in any quantity, so they used Cinsault with followed soon after Pais as an early red variety for Chile. They do everything naturally, organically, dry-farmed, and with horse-drawn ploughs. Even though they make this particular wine in stainless steel vats, they also do a higher end series entirely in terracotta clay amphorae pots underground, like in the 1500s.

Look for notes of red berries, citrus and lots of floral notes. Really light pink in colour this is made from 100% Cinsault (which makes amazing rosès in Provence). It has a medium body with nice fresh acidity that keeps you drinking all afternoon. I’ve had samples of this from previous years, but this is the first time we’re officially importing this to Ontario and I’m pretty excited for it to arrive next week. It may not be available to ship this week, but let me know if you’re interested and we can send it as soon as it lands.

De Martino, ‘Gallardia’ Rosé, Itata Valley, Chile, 2018 | $27.99 x12

GUT OGGAU, MASQUERADE ROSÉ

For those of you looking for something funky and natural, Gut Oggau (pronounced goot o-gow) is one of the most sough after cult wineries in the world. I wrote about husband and wife team Stephanie and Edouard, earlier in a natural wine offer. I first met Edouard and Stephanie at RAW Wine Fair in Brooklyn in 2017. Their wines were one of the the stars of the show for us. After some conversation and a few glasses of wine we had signed up to represent them in Ontario and they’ve been selling out like crazy ever since. In fact, these wines are usually allocated and sold out immediately upon arrival to Ontario. Click here for more background on them.

This wine organic and biodynamically grown, entirely natural, unfiltered, and raw with zero sulphite additions…so it can be slightly effervescent and funky from the raw natural fermentation. On one hand it’s super fresh kool aid, dry-rosé, juicy juice, but on the other hand it still has some fermentation effervescence with funky earthiness layered on top of the pretty fruit. A weird and complex rosé for those after something rare and different. Highest praise possible for Gut Oggau! This is extremely limited quantity, so please let me know ASAP if you’re interested!

Gut Oggau, Masquerade Rosé, 2018 | $52.99 x12

Just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday delivery is Wednesday at 9am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on instagram for daily wine content at @capitalwine.ottawa!