It’s easy to love rosé in the summertime and I know summer has drawn to a close. We're now well past Labor Day, but I’m definitely not one of those to put away the pinks after the summer is over –– and it’s actually still quite warm out in California anyway! In any case, rosés are just too useful for pairing purposes to be benched the entire rest of the year.
Rosés fit into a space where they’re able to pair with lots of different dishes that are otherwise tricky to work with precisely because they straddle the color lines of wine – much like orange wines and light reds. My experiment with Côtes du Rhônes of different colors that I shared last week, was a great reminder that sometimes when you don’t know what to pair with a dish, pinks are a good bet.
Today, I thought I’d share a broad round-up of rosés, along with some of these situations where they often come to the resuce, and a look at why they work. In looking through pictures, I’ve found that there are a few broad categories where I tend to reach for rosés again and again, and they’re categories of food that we tend to eat all year round.
Note: Some wines in this post were provided as media samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.
Light Meats
Chicken, pork, and other meats and poultry that are on the lighter end of the spectrum can work with a broad range of toppings and sauces. Light and bright preparations can be overpowered by, or even downright clash with big reds. It’s actually a better bet to pair to the sauce or toppings where these lighter meats are involved. Rosés, however, pretty much take the guesswork out of the pairing, because they’re likely to work solidly well regardless of the topping – they typically have the freshness to work with even a lemony dish, but can also often stand up to a more intense preparation, particularly if you pick a style with a little more structure.
This Arnot-Roberts Touriga Nacional Rosé 2018 (Avg price $29) a fun, New World take on a Portuguese grape. It had notes of orange blossoms, a mix of citrus, peaches, cherries, and tart strawberries, with light herbal notes. It's light on it's feet and had plenty of freshness, but had a little tannic grip on the finish. We had with fried chicken take-out and I thought it worked really well with the chicken itself as well as with the savory sides. Admittedly, it didn't work as well with sweeter sides like yams.
This Tenuta di Fessina Erse Etna Rosato 2018 (sample) is great choice for richer chicken and light meat dishes because it's a bit fuller and more structured than other rosés. It has notes of juicy cherries, accompanied by orange zest and herbs, and definitely has a little tannin. It worked really well with a spread of chicken, rich collard greens, and corn bread. I particularly liked it with the collard greens with their mix of vegetal and smoky, meat notes.
Sausages are regular weeknight go-to's around here, and they definitely fall into this middle-weight meat camp, particularly chicken sausages. I also often pair them with vegetables of different kinds and rosé works easily with lots of veggies as well. Here are three cases: Chateau de Berne Cotes de Provence Inspiration 2018 (sample, avg. price $20) worked beautifully with a sausage dish alongside kale, tomatoes, and lentils; Côte West Mounts Vineyard Rosé of Counoise 2018 ($25) had bright notes of tangerines, pink grapefruit, peaches and strawberries and worked nicely with chicken sausage and braised cabbage with cornbread croutons; Domaine du Pegau Pink Pegau Rosé 2016 is a bit of a richer style of French rosé and paired up nicely with a creamy sausage casserole.
Hearty Seafood Dishes
The rule of thumb dictates the white wines are the go-to’s when seafod is involved, since the tannins in red wines tend to clash with the proteins and oils in seafood, even while the work magically with those in meats. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and there are definitely lots of reds that can work quite well with certain seafood dishes. However, if you’re not sure which ones are likely to work, but you have a seafood dish that seems to be begging for something a little deeper than a light white, once again rosé is a good bet.
Three delicious seafood and rosé pairings from three local wineries: Lusu Cellars Single Leaf Cellars El Dorado Rosé 2016 with a citrus roasted salmon and Brussels sprouts with bacon; another rosé from Côte West (they make three) this one of Zinfandel ($22) with BBQ seasoned salmon with broccoli; Vinca Minor Carignan Rosé Redwood Valley 2019 ($25, sample) with sheet pan shrimp with roasted peppers and onions (although you can't see them clearly).
Light Pasta, Pizzas, and Quiche
Pasta and pizzas that have lighter toppings are in a similar boat to the situations described above. The carbs give them some richness, but the toppings might not have the heft to stand up to a bigger red wine. Pinks are once again an easy choice.
Rosés from Provence tend to be light, crisp, minerally, with light floral notes. I think they tend to go ell with veggie-heavy pasta dishes, like this Chateau de Berne Cotes de Provence Emotion Rosé 2017 (sample, avg. price $17) which was paired with fusilli with mixed summer squash and Parmesan.
Mexican and South American Cuisines
These cuisines are a slightly different case. Here you often have many different flavors occurring in one dish. You might have steak, but it’s flavored with lots of bright citrus, plus lots of herbs a veggies. Alternatively, you might light meats or seafood combined with richer elements like beans. Rosés tend to be able to bridge these different flavors. One note, if you have a dish with lots heat, you might want to opt for a fruitier rosé as it will help tame the heat better.
The old pairing adage "what grows together goes together" definitley held true for this bottle Las Nubes Bodegas y Vinedos Jaak Rose Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico 2018 of ordered to go with a spread at Calavera Mexican Kitchen& Bar in Oakland.
Asian Cuisines
Similar elements are at play with Asian cuisines which also often have many different spices and flavor components at work in a dish or on the table at the same time. Off-dryRiesling (or other off-dry white wines) or a fruity bubbly like Prosecco tend to be my preference with sweeter dishes or more firely cuisines like Sichuan, but I often enjoy rosés with cuisines that aren’t toooooo sweet or spicy but still have many flavors in the mix. It’s likewise a good option if off-dry wines just aren’t to your taste. In general, I’d again recommend fruitier styles to work with dishes with some heat in the mix.
This pairing for Chateau de Berne Inspiration Côtes de Provence Rosé 2019 (sample) came as a bit of surprise. We'd made meatballs in Vermont Curry (which is Japanese Curry despite the misleading name) with roasted broccoli and grabbed this bottle on gamble. It paid off, and the typically light rosé with notes of underripe Strawberries, peach, pink grapefruit, with herbs on the finish got rounder and fruitier with the food.
Of course, rosés are perfectly paired with bright, sunny days on their own as well, but that nearly goes without saying. August Kesseler SpatburAugust Kessler Pinot Noir Rosé Rheingau Germany 2019 (sample) and CARBONISTE'S Sea Urchin Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir 2019($28) are two I've kicked back with on more than one occasion.
The main take away here is that rosés can bridge lots of flavors and textures in foods we enjoy year round, so don’t put them away permanently during the chillier months. Moreover, these same qualities make them perfect for holiday spreads where you have all kinds of dishes on the table at once!
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As I've been writing this post, fires are once again raging across Napa and Sonoma. Many historical wineries have been burned to the ground or having sustained damage, including Shramsberg whose Brut Rosé I was just enjoying over the weekend with my friend Kristie, whose rosé is mentioned above. California is certainly not alone. I've heard that Twill Cellars, also mentioned above, has suffered major losses in Oregon.
I'm certain these aren't the only ones, as the fires are continuing to burn here and many don't know the extent of damage as of yet.
Certainly, this is what I had in mind when I set out to write a post on rosé, which for me is almost always a wine that goes with happy times, but this is where climate change has left us and it's terifying.
If you're inclined to help, this page has a list of resources for California's wildfire relief and the American Red Cross is collecting funds for fires affecting all of the Western states. Of course, buying wines from affected wineries directly benefits them as well.
