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WHITLEY ON WINE
| ROBERT WHITLEY |
DRINKING PINK
It was a warm summer day in the south of France. The en- with a nod toward “white Zin” for keeping the vineyards alive.
tire village of Grasse, it seemed, had turned out for lunch this
Monday afternoon on the terrace at La Bastide Saint Antoine, White Zin, on the other hand, created a backlash against
where the Michelin-starred chef Jacques Chibois oversees the rose because of its significantly high levels of residual sugar.
kitchen. Emerging wine consumers, especially those new to the plea-
sures of the grape, assumed – wrongly – that all rose wine was
Everything about the day was impeccable. The sunlight, the sweet.
fresh air, the glint of the Mediter-
ranean in the distance all served Sensing the public mood, many
as the perfect backdrop to Chibois’ domestic wine producers either ig-
legendary cuisine. nored rose altogether or made it in
such limited quantities that good,
And on every table, under every dry domestic rose similar to rose
umbrella, there was a bottle of made in France, Spain and Italy was
pink wine. Chilled, crisp, refresh- difficult to find.
ing, dry rose wine from Provence.
The parade of pink wine was nearly I am happy to report that domestic
unanimous except for the occa- producers are becoming bolder in
sional bottle of Champagne. their embrace of rose, and as an ex-
ample I commend to you the beauti-
The message from the huddled ful J Vineyards 2013 Vin Gris, made
masses was not lost on this for- from Pinot Noir grapes, that was
eign visitor. When you are hot and published last week in the WRO Re-
parched, with a mighty thirst and views section.
a craving for an adult beverage,
there are worse ways to idle away I confess I had a moment of nostal-
a summer afternoon than sipping gia as I took a sip. It was suddenly
on a well-made dry rose wine as a sunny summer day in the south
you gaze in the direction of the sea. of France, rubbing elbows with the
townfolk of Grasse as they idled
I’ve been hooked on dry rose ever away a lazy summer day.
since, but until recently my rose
thirst has been quenched for the J Vineyards 2013 Vin Gris, Rus-
most part by wines produced in sian River Valley ($20) – My sense
France, Spain and Italy. Domestic is that demand for rosé wine is up
production of rose has general- significantly, although I haven't seen
ly trended toward sweeter wines, any statistics to support that view.
particularly white Zinfandel. What I do know is that more do-
mestic producers are making a rosé
White Zin, as it is known, was im- and making it better than ever. This
portant to the wine industry in rosé from J is made from Pinot Noir
the 1980s because it saved many grapes using the saignee method
old Zinfandel vineyards from ex- of bleeding the Pinot Noir fermen-
tinction. Zinfandel, the bold red tation tanks early on, before too
wine many believe is native to much contact between the juice and
California, had fallen out of favor the skins, which can impart bitter
at the time, but the invention and tannins. The J Vin Gris is fresh and
instant popularity of “white Zin” clean, with mouth-watering acidity
kept many of the old Zinfandel and beautiful aromas of strawberry
vineyards in production. and tart cherry. And it has arrived
just in time for those warm Indian
That was a good thing, and now Summer afternoons. 92 points
old-fashioned red Zinfandel is
once again a consumer favorite,
76 Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015
