Wine recommendations, travel notes and other minutiae. Comments or questions? Please e-mail me at harrington@varietalswine.com

One of the best buys on the wine market today is Rosé. For those of you who have not partaken in the joys of PINK wine, you have really missed out. They are not anything like those sweet, sugar laden, white zins of yesterday. You know, those wines that many of you have grown to hate. These are dry, complex wines that will rival any wine, red or white, that come anywhere close to this price point.

They are also very versitile with food, matching well with traditional red and white wine foods. A nice gamey Rosé will go superbly with a good filet, yet also add greatly to halibut or even salmon.

There is not much better than sitting outside in your garden, near a pool or a body of water on a hot summer day while sipping Rosé with the ones you love!

We have a hard time turning good bottles of Rosé away, which is why we have six different bottles to choose from. Order a mixed case and get a 10% discount!

2004 Les Aphillanthes Cotes du Rhone Rosé
Nicely colored with a bright dark garnet hue. The nose reveals a gamey, slightly meaty quality along with some nice floral rose petal character. The palate follows, showing a bit of additonal strawberry, cherry fruit and some herbs de Provence. Crisp acidity and a bit fuller bodied than you might expect. A screaming deal at $10.95 - $9.86 with a Case Discount.

2004 Chateau Mourgues du Gres Les Galets Rosés Costieres de Nimes
A saignée of Grenache and Syrah, full of fresh strawberries and red fruit from south of Chateauneuf du Pape. Showing a hint of gaminess and nice herbal notes. Ample in the mouth with a nice, lingering, dry finish, this rosé is more red in character than it is pink, yet is is still very elegant in style.. Really well done. Winemaker Francois Collard worked a number of years at Chateau Lafite Rothschild. I tasted this at the Hospice du Rhone Rose luncheon along with around a dozen other rosés and this was my favorite!! Outstanding wine!. $14.95 -- $13.46 with case discount

2004 Marilyn Remark Monterey County Rosé “de Saignée”
Killer Rosé. This one is a really interesting saignée blend of Grenache and Petite Sirah! Ever so slightly gamey and meaty with fresh red cherry/strawberry fruit that carries through, and adds to the earthy minerals in a long finish. Complex stuff!! Worth the price at $18.95 - $17.06 with a Case Discount.

2004 Casa Mireles San Luis Obispo Rosato Syrah
70% of the fruit for this wine comes from Bassetti Vineyard. This is very unique and somewhat unprecedented in style. It’s a funny looking Rosé because it is darker than most Pinot Noirs and probably as dark as some Syrahs, yet it drinks like a Rosé! The aromas are kind of high toned, showing strawberry and cherry fruit with a hint of creamy spice and violets. Fairly clean on the palate with somewhat candied red and black fruits that combine with some stony minerality and earth, also showing some yeasty, leesy character. It finishes with nicely balanced acidity. Overall, this is a pretty cool Rosé for a reasonable price. $14.95 - $13.46 with a Case Discount.

2004 Syncline Columbia Valley Grenache Rosé
This is the second vintage of this rosé from Syncline. It has a deep salmon pink color, abundant, rich strawberry flavors and lively acidity. It finishes dry and has a nice earthy, herbal quality to the nose. We’re really liking the Syncline stuff across the board. The wines are all well-balanced and very “Rhone” in character. This rose is right there with the others. Very limited. Really hard to get.
$17.95 -- $16.16 with case discount.

2003 Saisons des Vins les Printemps Mendocino County Rosé
This is the second label of Copain.This wine shows some nice, ripe and forward strawberry, cherry fruit that is still slightly gamey and floral with moderate acidity. Easy drinking. $9.95 -- $8.96 with case discount

2003 Cristom Willamette Valley Estate Syrah
Dark purple, this wine shows high toned fruits ranging from black and red cherries to blackberry, boysenberry and pomegranate. It has that sea air aroma that is so reminiscent of the Cote Rotie along with coffee, cracked black pepper, anise, brown stems and other mild brown spices. Dark loamy minerality. Nicely structured with moderate tannins and slightly elevated acidity. Great balance! Amazing wine out of Oregon!! If you are a Northern Rhone fan and still like American Syrah, you got to try this wine. I'm picking up a number of these myself! This is a screaming deal. $27.95 -- $25.16 with Case Discount

SOLD OUT

2003 Saxum Rocket Block James Berry Vineyard 50% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre & 10% Syrah -- $44.95 -- $40.46 with Case Discount

2003 Saxum Broken Stones Paso Robles 80% Syrah, 12% Grenache & 8% Mourvedre -- $34.95 -- $31.46 with Case Discount

Why do I love the wines from Saxum? It's really NOT for the obvious reasons. Sure they are huge and in-your-face with sometimes extreme levels of concentration. I understand that this is either a very attractive characteristic to some or something not too good for others. Certainly Robert Parker loves these things and there are good sides and bad to that as well.

But NONE of that explains why I love these wines. What has ALWAYS impressed me is the complexity of the fruit and the terroir that shows through. I cannot think of another vineyard that CAN produce such incredibly rich, concentrated wines that still show the earth from whence they came. In the James Berry wines, the limestone rich earth shows a strong mineral streak, that plays against the complexities of the fruit in a really great way.