Food and Wine Pairing: Rosé

It seems that if you put 'food and wine pairing' into a search engine these days you will be completely inundated with blog posts and web pages galore telling you which drop goes best with what dish.  It's a complicated business. In the interests of making things a bit simpler, and a bit more hands on, I've decided to do some regular posts on the topic, and I might even add in the occasional recipe to try along with some suggested wine matches.

I absolutely love cooking, it's totally my 'down time' thing.  In my younger years (not all that long ago, I might add), I would spend days preparing special dishes for dinner parties.  I held an Indian dinner party for 16 people once, there were 5 curries, all prepared from scratch.  I don't get the chance to do as much of it as I used to (thanks kids!!), but I still get to salivate over recipe books, and occasionally there is a special dinner party, or a romantic evening planned, where I can try out something a bit more complicated than pasta and meat sauce (again, thanks kids...). Anyway, matching the food I cook to the perfect beverage is also a passion.  There is nothing worse than sitting down to a cracking good meal, and taking a sip of completely the wrong wine.  There can be a massive clash of flavours in your mouth, spoiling what could have been a marriage made in heaven.

We've got a few Rosés up on our website, and just this week we introduced a great new Preservative Free Rosé from Temple Bruer in stock at the moment.  It's seriously awesome, and has inspired me to write about this 'Pink Drink' that is often scorned by those who 'think' they know a thing or two about wine.  Now, rose has been given a bad wrap over the years.  It has serious associations with 1970s dinner parties, women in platform shoes, gold one piece jump suits, glossy lipstick and overly sweet PINK wine.  I'm here to tell you that it's time to put aside old prejudices and look at that pink vino with new eyes.  It's versatile to the max, and I'm sure that there will be a style that is bound to float your boat. 






The Temple Bruer 2014 Preservative Free Rosé, is a real beauty.  It is awash with flavours of cherry, watermelon and citrus. The crisp palate shows tropical fruit and citrus, fresh pineapple and lime characters. There is a little hint of chalky tannins on the finish and a cleansing gentle acidity. It's a wine of medium weight (and only 12% alcohol!) and is well suited to many Asian foods.  I served it up with a curry last night and all were suitably impressed.  We've got this for sale from $18.50 on our website.  Seriously, do yourself a favour and try it.  One word:  YUM.




So the upshot is, Rosé is not necessarily sweet.  In fact, you'd have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed the sheer number of different kinds of Rosés available at your local bottle-o.  Just to give you a mini 101 lesson on the kinds of Rosé available, as well as the kinds of food you might serve with them...read on!

Light dry Rosé - 

This style is generally made with Pinot Noir grapes.  The closest comparison would be to a crisp dry white like a Pinot Gris.  It pairs amazingly well with light meals, salads, a light pasta or rice dish, goats cheese, seafood, shellfish.  Basically it is great for summer time drinking.

Light off-dry Rosé - 

This style is similar that above, but with a touch of sweetness.  It is more in line with a traditional rosé from Portugal (Mateus).  This pairs well with the same foods are above, but also lightly spiced dishes, like an Indian curry or Asian foods.  If you're keen to try this style, we've got a lovely Knight's Templar Rose.

Medium dry Rosé - 

Zinfandel or sparkling zin.  This kind of rosé is often called 'Blush' .  And you guessed it, it pairs well with the above foods including the spicy foods.  It also kicks as a dessert wine, provided the dessert isn't overly sweetened.

Medium bodied dry Rosé -

 This style is in line with rose from the Spanish Rioja region.  It is very accommodating in terms of food matching.  It's not overly sweet, and It can stand up to some punchy flavours, like olives, garlic, anchovies, etc.  It goes well with a good paella, grilled meats, a charcuterie plate, tapas, pre-dinner nibbles of pate or rillettes.  It's a winner.

Elegant, Fruity Rosé - 

Often Melot based, this is a rosé with many of the same qualities as a good Pinot Noir.  It should be drunk with big ticket dinner items like rare lamb, duck, salmon, tuna, or if you're feeling flush, LOBSTER!

Full bodied fruity Rosé - 

You'll find lots of these in Australia.  And in line with our obsession with Shiraz and flavours that are bold, big and obvious, this Rosé is all that.  It's heavy handed with the fruit flavours.  It's often served chilled and goes well with curries, Asian food, a barbeque or the like.  

Sparkling Rosé - 

These are lots of these on the Australian market, and for good reason.  They're fun and tasty!  They are a great social drink, and can range from dry to medium dry.  They are great with nibbles (cheese, nuts, smoked salmon, etc), or can be served with sweet treats like cakes and sweet tarts.  We've got a lovely Rosnay Sparkling Vintage Rose for a good price.

Rosé Champagne - 

For really impressing someone!  Again, these can vary between lighter and more full bodied flavours and levels of sweetness.  This style usually suits canapes, like Blinis and such.  A more serious vintage number would go well with game birds.

I hope this little post has helped clarify matters for you.  Normally I'll include a recipe to match the wine varietal that I'm food pairing with, but there is such a huge variation in styles of Rosé that I could be blogging for hours.  I think the info I've given you should be sufficient to lead you in the right direction when it comes to preparing a suitable meal to go with any Rosé.  And should you want to try a good Organic or Preservative Free Rosé, please check out our website.  Good wine, good value!


Happy drinking!

What's with the big 'O'...? What is organic wine?

So, what exactly is 'Organic Wine'?  

It's obviously been the burning question, plaguing you night and day, causing you to lose sleep, etc...  Well, look no further than this handy little post to answer your question, restore your sleep and hopefully give you an edge come the next trivia night you're involved in.

It's really a two parter.   

Firstly, and in my opinion, one of the most important questions in life to date...

WHAT IS WINE?

Well, a super brief 101 lesson...WINE is the fermented juice of grapes (or other fruits and grains).  The juice can be treated in a variety of ways, yeasts added (or natural yeasts relied on to kick off the fermenting), skins left on, or removed, the juice aged in barrels made of oak, or in glass bottles, or steel vats, etc.  Essentially, grape based wine is a delicious alcoholic beverage which can come in red, white, rose, or sparkling varieties.  There are many different grape varietals all with their own distinct flavour profiles.  Wine has been around for thousands of years...archeologists have unearthed jars of wine as old as 9000 years, but I think it's pretty safe to say that people were enjoying the heady effects of wine (or some kind of equivalent) since the dawn of man.

Secondly, and also extremely important...

WHAT DOES ORGANIC MEAN (in reference to wine, of course)?

In terms of farming, ORGANIC is a form of agriculture that relies only on the use of natural fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.  Often organic farming is very mindful of the environment, trying to farm in ways which minimise impact on the land, this can include crop rotation, companion planting, etc.  No artificial chemicals, no genetically modified organisms, and in the case of animals, no antibiotics or artificial growth stimulating hormones, are used in the production of organically farmed plants or animals.

Rainbows over the Rosnay Organic Vineyards.

Organic farming practices are as old as agriculture itself, and thankfully have seen a resurgence of popularity in more recent times.  Many of the chemicals that have been used in the past, and even today, have a dubious record when it comes to potential damage to the environment, animals and people.  I figure if there is a way to farm without them, why not?!

WHAT IS ORGANIC WINE?

Well, putting the two pieces of information above together, pretty clearly spells out that ORGANIC WINE is wine that is created using only grapes (or other additives) which are farmed/produced organically.  This means that if milk products are added, or yeasts added they must be organic as well.

How about those PRESERVATIVES?

It must be remembered that organic wine is not always preservative free wine.  Sulfur dioxide, and any other preservatives in their purest form are organic too!  So, if you are looking to avoid added preservatives in your vino you will need to look beyond the organic label alone. {I'll do a post on preservative free wines soon, but for now don't want to overload the information receivers.  If you're keen for more information immediately, check out our website.}

  

Another really interesting thing about organic vineyards and wine makers (and indeed any organic producer), is that wine can be produced according to organic philosophies and practices without being Certified Organic.  Organic certification is quite expensive, and incredibly prescriptive.  Farms with organic certification must undergo extensive and testing, and jump through loads of hoops to make sure they keep their organic status.  There can be no hint that there are non organic chemicals anywhere near their farms, and they have to have been farming organically for several years before even being considered for certification.  Many farms, and wine makers, are happy to forgo the certification process, and just go about their organic farming business, they are permitted (in Australia) to label their wine as being produced according to organic farming philosophies, but they cannot say they have certification, or use the Australian Certified Organic logo.  In many ways this can be a tricky business for wineries, as the logo and certification is often the first thing that consumers look for and can trust.  You can have a read about ACO on their website for more details about the process of certification.  

 

As an example, Freehand Wines, a lovely little wine producer in Western Australia, produces natural wine according to organic and biodynamic philosophies, but does not have certification.  I've met the people behind the Freehand Label - Matt Eastwell, and Danni, his partner in wine making and life, they are passionate about farming without the use of man-made chemicals and additives.  Their wine is absolutely organic and biodynamic.  No certification necessary!  

The message is: 

1.  Not having organic certification, does not necessarily mean that wine is not organic, check out Freehand as an example.

2.  Organic wine is not necessarily Preservative Free wine, nor is it always Vegan friendly. 

Happy drinking!