Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 57

YEAR'S BEST ROSÉS
90 | Tenet

RHONE
230654

92 | Domaine Lafond

$19

2017 Tavel Roc-Epine Rosé (Best Buy) ^
The Lafonds turned out a lush 2017 Tavel
from their organically farmed vineyards, a
wine that balances its sunny generosity with
refreshing acidity. It has the girth for meaty
dishes, with berry notes that bring red meat
to mind, but the herbal and earthy flavors
have enough restraint to work with fish, too. §
Alain Junguenet Selection, Mountainside, NJ
231459

90 | Brotte

$17

230497
$22

2017 Costières de Nîmes Le Fervent Rosé ^
Le Fervent is a collaboration between Bob
Bertheau of Washington's Ste. Michelle Wine
Estates and French vintner Michel Gassier.
The 2017 is a big, broad rosé, a blend of 65
percent grenache, 25 percent mourvèdre and
ten percent cinsault from a vintage so warm
that they'd picked all the fruit for it before
the end of August. Meaty and rich, it has a
salinity and herbal expression that make it
mouthwatering. It will stand up well to all
manner of grilled meats. § Ste. Michelle Wine
Estates, Woodinville, WA

2017 Tavel Les Eglantiers Rosé (Best Buy) ^
This lives up to its rich rosé color in its deep,
earthy flavor. Notes of burnt orange and iron
provide an edge to the plummy fruit, adding
light and depth at once. It's firm and serious,
built for the dinner table. § Monsieur Touton
Selection, NY
229882

90 | Buti Nages

90 | Château de Nages

$16

2017 Costières de Nîmes Vieilles Vignes
Rosé (Best Buy) ^ A blend of grenache and
mourvedre from Michel Gassier's organically
farmed vineyards, this is savory and spicy,
the bright acidity juicing up the lean cherry
flavors. Notes of green cedar and herbs give
it a cool feel, ready to offer relief on a warm
evening. § Saranty Imports, Harrison, NY
230403

90 | Dom. Guy Mousset

$16

2017 Côtes du Rhône Rosé (Best Buy) ^ This
offers the warmth and richness of Rhône reds
in a light rosé form. It's savory and plump
with raspberry fruit, a little minty herbal note
adding lift. Pour it with a warm salad of sliced
duck. § Saranty Imports, Stamford, CT
226503

90 | La Compagnie
Rhodanienne

$15

2016 Côtes du Rhône Petit Tracteur Rosé
(Best Buy) ^ From a cooperative in the Gard,
west of Avignon, this blend focuses on grenache, with cinsault and syrah. A little bottle
age has given it a salted-almond note to play
off the peach and orange fruit, the wine ready
to serve with Manchego, or almond gazpacho. § Savorian Wines, Brooklyn, NY
231047

$18

2017 Savoie Rosé (Best Buy) ^ With notes of
meadowsweet flowers and mountain herbs,
this gamay rosé is tangy and refreshing, a delicate wine for a spring-vegetable fricassee, or
goat cheese. § Massanois Imports, NY

GERMANY
231303

88 | Hans Wirsching

$16

2017 Franken Rosé (Best Buy) ^ A blend of
pinot meunier, portugieser and domina (a
cross of pinot noir and portugieser), this is
simple and limey, with creamy strawberry flavor. § Rudi Wiest Selections, Carlsbad, CA

GREEC E
230298

$12

2017 Costières de Nîmes Rosé (Best Buy) ^
An easygoing rosé from Michel Gassier at
Château de Nages, this packs a lot into a
$12 wine. It's salty and lush, yielding a sense
of minerality that gives structure to the
plummy fruit, and a violet scent that adds
delicacy. § Saranty Imports, Stamford, CT
229883

90 | Charles Gonnet

230681

90 | La Vieille Ferme

$11

2017 Vin de France Rosé (Best Buy) ^ The
Perrin family of Château Beaucastel in Châteauneuf-du-Pape make this wine at their
estate in Ventoux, blending equal parts cinsault and grenache with 20 percent syrah.
The 2017, from the driest vintage they've
experienced in 30 years, is firm and crisp,
with tangy berry flavors playing over a stony
savor that holds the wine long and clean. §
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
230093

88 | Les Vignerons de Tavel $15

2017 Tavel Les Lauzeraies (Best Buy) ^ This
lives up to its deep red color in its fruit flavors. It's ripe yet savory, balanced by a stony
note and cherry-pit nuttiness. Pour it with
a steak salad. § Monsieur Touton Selection, NY
231256

87 | Château Beaubois

$13

2017 Costières de Nîmes Cuvée Expression
Rosé (Best Buy) ^ A hearty rosé, this tastes
of red cherries and roiboos tea. Match it to
grilled pork-and-vegetable kebabs. § American
Northwest Distributors, Seattle, WA

SAVOIE
231080

91 | Jean Perrier & Fils

$15

2017 Savoie Cuvée Gastronomie Gamay
Rosé (Best Buy) ^ Made by a family who's
farmed their granite hillsides near Chambery
since 1853, this gamay has a compelling scent
that's breezy and delicate, and a light bitterness and cherry-stone savor that give it an
edge. Pour it with a nettle-and-mushroom
omelet this spring. § David Bowler Wines, NY

94 | Parparoussis

$18

92 | Estate Argyros

$19

91 | Dio Fili

$12

91 | Lyrarakis

$20

2017 Achaia Petite Fleur Rosé (Best Buy) ^
Rather than thinking of this as a rosé, consider it as a wine that happens to have a little color. First off, it's not pink; it's more like
a pale orange. It's also not a trifle: Made of
sideritis, a grape that has the word "iron"
in its name, it feels firm and mineral laden,
the notes of lemon, orange and sweet herbs
simply decoration on its structure. One taster
compared it to a Domaine Ott rosé for its
substance and quiet restraint; another asked
for a salad of grilled haloumi, stat. § Cava Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
229953
2016 Cyclades Atlantis Rosé (Best Buy) ^
This pale pink rosé gets its color from 20
percent mandilaria blended into a base of
assyrtiko. The combination works brilliantly
in 2016, tangy lemon and chalky minerality
pushing the cherry fruit forward before a
whoosh of refreshing acidity cleans everything up. It has drive and energy, and the
savory flavors to work well with grilled fish. §
Craft + Estate/The Winebow Group, NY
231634
2017 Siatista Xinomavro Rosé (Best Buy) ^
A pale orange rosé, this is silky and full bodied, a caress of cranberry, cherry and fig flavor. The acidity is soft but persistent, carrying the flavors over broad, earthy bass notes
that place this at the dinner table, with grilled
pork. § Verity Wine Partners, NY
231270
2017 Crete Kedros Liatiko Rosé (Best Buy) ^
With its pale orange-pink hue and salty olive
and herb notes, this could pass for a Provençal rosé, only this one is more outgoing, with
violet scents and a tannic edge to balance the
fruit. § USA Wine West, Sausalito, CA
WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2018

57
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2018
