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There is something undeniably satisfying about a chilly glass of Provençal rosé on a warm summer’s evening (or, perhaps, afternoon). This style of rosé has become enormously popular around the world, and with good reason–gently fruity and crisp on the finish, these pale, refreshing wines are incredibly easy to enjoy, especially when temperatures are on the rise and light snacks are on the plate.

While France still dominates the pink market, wine drinkers in the U.S. have been exploring Italy’s dizzying array of rosato wines more than ever before. If you think that rosé is only suitable for porches and picnics, think again. Paul Marcus Wines offers a range of captivating, food-craving rosatos that will absolutely shine a tavola.

Our journey begins in the south, on the island of Sicily. The volcanic soils of Mt. Etna are home to the nerello mascalese grape, which produces a wonderfully complex and savory style of rosato. These wines tend to be quite dry, aromatic, and bursting with minerality. At PMW, we’ve been enjoying both the Graci Etna Rosato (a bit more focus) and the Terre Nere Etna Rosato (a tad more fruit). From the southern part of the island comes the Due Terre Rosato di Frappato, a bright, floral wine with a striking deep-amber hue.

East of Rome and bordering the Adriatic Sea, the verdant Abruzzo region is the province of the dark-skinned montepulciano grape, which produces a rich, structured style of rosato called Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. The Ciavolich Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo ‘Fosso Cancelli’ is darker in color than some of the “red” wines that we carry. After 24-36 hours of skin maceration in concrete, this wine is moved to terracotta amphorae for further fermentation and aging, resulting in a wine that is dense, yet still lively–a match for more substantial fare than your typical rosé. Fermented and aged briefly in stainless steel, the low-sulfite Cirelli Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo represents a lighter version of this noteworthy type of rosato.

Next we move to Piemonte, where the majestic nebbiolo grape reigns supreme. The nebbiolo of Alto Piemonte, in the northern part of the region, is usually more etched and mineral-driven, with softer tannins, than the nebbiolo found in the more-famous Langhe area two hours to the south. Producers and consumers alike are quickly discovering how well suited the nebbiolo of Alto Piemonte is to rosato.

PMW currently stocks three different expressions of Alto Piemonte rosato. The rust-colored Le Pianelle Coste della Sesia Rosato ‘Al Posto dei Fiori’ adds a touch of vespolina and croatina to its nebbiolo foundation, along with just a hint of oak influence. It’s a full-flavored, multifaceted rosato that still manages to be fresh and nimble thanks to ample acidity and a mineral edge. The Antoniolo Gattinara Rosato ‘Bricco Lorella’ undergoes a relatively short maceration (about three hours), and the resulting wine is vibrant and graceful, with vivid red-berry notes.

Finally, we have Nervi’s Il Rosato, which falls stylistically somewhere between the first two. The oldest estate in the Alto Piemonte DOCG of Gattinara, Nervi was recently purchased by Barolo superstar Roberto Conterno, and they decided to use some of their top vines for this delightful rosato. Malolactic fermentation and a spell of lees aging give this wine a bit of texture without sacrificing any of its zest. For a different twist on Piemonte rosato, try the Vigneti Massa Rosato ‘Terra Libertà’, an herbaceous blend of barbera, cortese, and freisa that hails from the Colli Tortonesi in Piemonte’s southeastern hills.

Summer might be creeping to a close, but these versatile, food-friendly rosatos have year-round appeal. Visit or call us at Paul Marcus Wines to begin your discovery of Italian pinks. Buon viaggio!

With the arrival of spring, Paul Marcus Wines is ready to showcase our growing rosé selection!

What does a light pink wine signify? Will a darker hued rose taste sweet? Making a fruity but balanced pink wine is no small task. In fact, many winemakers confide that vinifying rosé wine can be more challenging than red or white wine production.

Why is this so? The answer: A rosé wine must walk a tightrope, balancing components of fruit, acid and alcohol with very little margin of error. Too much of any one component leaves what should otherwise be a fresh, crisp and vibrant pink, flat on its back, tasting ponderous and dull.  However, making the perfect pink wine is not just a matter of mixing red and white grape juice…

How is Rosé Wine Made?

High quality rosé wine is made utilizing the following 3 production methods:

Direct Press Method

After harvest, red grapes undergo skin contact for a short period of time before being pressed off. How much time exactly? Anywhere from almost immediately to 16 hours or so. During this period, a limited amount of color is extracted from the skins, often resulting in a lightly colored juice. A very pale and barely pink wine is sometimes referred to as a Vin Gris.  If the grapes are left on their skins a bit longer, a darker hue will result. A rosé produced via the direct press method is pictured above.

Saignée Method

The process saignée or bleeding off juice, was originally employed as a method of concentrating wine must before fermentation in order to produce a more robust red. Red grapes, either crushed or uncrushed but broken (preferable), are chilled down and macerate, generally between 1-4 days. The juice is then be drawn off or “bled” and without being pressed. This juice is then often fermented at cooler temperatures, in a similar manner to that of a white wine the finished rosé is generally a more robust and deeply colored wine. A rosé produced via the saignée method is pictured above.

Note: the finished color of a rose does not indicate a sweetness level. If all the sugar has been converted to alcohol during the fermentation process, the resulting wine will be a dry one, regardless of the color.

Blended Method

After fermentation is complete, white and red wines (usually around 5%) are blended together in order to achieve a desired level of pink or blush tint. The blending method is rarely employed in making still rosé wines and is illegal in the EU. However, the blended method is commonly used in the production of high-quality rosé Champagne as well as high quality sparkling wines around the world. The Champagne house Billecart-Salmon produces their iconic rosé Champagne in this manner.

With so many rosé wines, and so little time, it’s time to dive in and get started!

 

 

These 2018 rosé wines from our local winery friends are now available at Paul Marcus wines and ready for you to take home.

Expect to see a steady parade of pink over the next several months, from wine regions across the globe, and produced via the 3 methods of rose production described above. As you may know, we’re huge Rosé fanatics, and we can’t stop talking about Pink!

We’ll see you at the shop!

Château Simone RoseCellaring Rose?

Cellaring is a common practice for wine enthusiasts, whether for just a couple bottles or several hundred. But for those who do age their wines, how many hold on to dry rosé and drink it long after release? At the moment, the market for dry rosé is certainly “flowing.” Just last week in the shop Paul recollected how some years ago you had to really search to find a good rosé. Now, we are fortunate enough to find a wide range of excellent expressions in this category along with ample quantity. In fact, an entire section of the shop between the spring and summer months is entirely devoted to the “pink stuff”. However, although dry rosé is certainly acknowledged more often as a fine-wine category, with a wide range of price points to support, it is still not commonly cellared.

At the end of the day, rosé is primarily made to satisfy consumers’ desires for fresh and enjoyable sipping wine to drink during the warm weather months. Producers pick their grapes early, ferment at cooler temperatures in stainless steel, and avoid malolactic fermentation, in the hopes of give the market exactly what it wants—a charming, delicious, and crisp wine.

Nonetheless, there are several dry rosé bottlings currently carried in the shop that we can recommend cellaring; one in particular is truly a gem, and anything but basic. It is certainly worth seeking out and putting it to the test, well, in a few years!

Château Simone

Château Simone is located in the tiny appellation of Palette within Provence. Many are completely unaware of Palette due to its famous and much larger neighbors, Coteaux d’Aix en Provence and Côtes de Provence. The wines made at this 20 hectare property are unique to say the least with outstanding quality. The area is surrounded by a pine forest, the Arc River, and the Montagne Sainte-Victire mountain range. The vineyards sit on limestone soils at elevations as high as 750 feet, creating a microclimate with superb growing conditions. Some of the vines are as old as 100 years in age. For over two hundred years the Rougier family have run the Château, and are every bit as lovely as their wines.

Their rosé is produced in a similar fashion to their red wines and contains mostly Grenache and Mourvèdre with small amounts of Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, Picpoul Noir, Muscat de Hambourg, Tibouren, Théoulier, and Manosquin. It is produced much like a red wine, moving from a wooden basket press to wooden vats for fermentation, along with one and a half to two years of aging in Foudres and another year in mature barrique. The dedication to this aging process gives this wine outstanding structure, power, and complexity that will certainly stand up to a decade of cellaring.

Edmunds St. John - Bone Jolly Rose
Edmunds St. John - Bone Jolly Rose

Edmunds St. John – Bone Jolly Rose

Edmunds St. John Bone-Jolly Rosé

Featured in The New York Times

Congrats to local winemaker, Steve Edmunds for his recent accolades in the NYT article “20 Wines for Under $20: Spring Edition”.  We are big fans of this excellent Gamay Rosé currently on our shelf for $23.00

“The wine stores tell us it’s rosé season (though in my opinion, it’s never not rosé season). Here is an old favorite, which year after year offers the vivacity characteristic of a good young rosé. It’s made entirely of Gamay Noir, the grape of Beaujolais (hence the somewhat awkward name Bone-Jolly), and it’s exactly what you want on those first few days out on the deck, the balcony or wherever you can grab space in the open air.” – NYT

Have you seen our Spanish neighbors lately? Nah, I think they got tired of our late night shenanigans and moved across the bay.

Roses at Paul Marcus WinesThis time of year here at Paul Marcus Wines we are down right Rosé crazy! We live, breath and well uh.. drink the stuff like it is going out of style. And if being fanatical about Rosé is wrong, then we don’t wanna be right. There is something about the crisp and refreshing nature of Rosé wine, not to mention it’s hugely versatile food pairing capability, that makes us all warm and fuzzy like a troop of giddy schoolgirls.

And just when we thought our passion for pink couldn’t get any stronger, we’ve gone and outdid ourselves. Currently PMW offers nearly 50 Rosés from countless appellations all over the world! A grand parcel of prime real estate in the front of the store is and  will be dedicated to Rosé mania throughout the summer. It’s a thing of sheer beauty.

More Roses at Paul Marcus Wines

It’s a constant game of Tetris trying to make room for all the great Rosé we taste. Just recently this plethora of pink pleasure packed pests decided to play not so nice in the sandbox, essentially banishing their long time neighbor Spanish whites, to an entirely different section!

Now you may be asking yourself a question asked by many of our customers. Isn’t the Rosé category way out of style and aren’t they all sweet and of questionable quality? You are not alone in this realm of thinking. Even though delicious dry and high quality Rosé has pretty much always been produced, it is unfortunately in most peoples minds been lumped into the same category as your Mother’s Mateus and your Grandmother’s White Zinfandel. And when you think about it it’s not all that surprising. Beringer, a well known mammoth of a winery from California, practically made their entire fortune by churning out over one hundred thousand cases a year of their affordable sweet blush. It’s been burned into the masses minds that Rosé can’t be anything but the sweet plonk of days past.

Somebody drinks this stuff, right?

Somebody drinks this stuff, right?

Blush makes you beautiful, doesn't it?

Blush makes you beautiful, doesn’t it?

Fortunately PMW has unbelievable access to the finest wines in the world. We are clobbered every Spring with a multitude of hand crafted Rosés made by producers who seek to fortify the reputation of Rosé as a world class wine that should always be considered when you are making your selection for your Friday night party or better yet Saturday barbecue. We wouldn’t be doing right by these hard working pink wine artisans if we didn’t succeed in spreading our undying love for Rosé. So there we are, constantly urging our patrons to “think pink” and witnessing ridiculous amounts of Rosé walk out our very door every single day. We are proud knowing that bone dry and highly satiating Rosé is being prominently featured all over the globe on wine lists and retail establishments.

I suppose we would be leaving a stone unturned if we weren’t to explain just why we are so damn excited about this particular wine category.

Rosé wine is basically a pink potion made by bleeding or pressing juice from red grapes (the color comes from the contact with the grape skins) or by blending portions of red wine and white wine together. It’s a process that can coax some of the most delicate and pretty aromatics possible from nearly any variety of black-skinned grapes.  So what does this mean in terms of the flavor of the wine and it’s practical application? Well in a nutshell, you kinda are able to get the best of both worlds! You can attain the fresh and bright acid driven character of great white wine plus the highly desirable red fruit and secondary flavor characteristics of great red wine. You can even impart phenolic content to the wine. Yes, Rosé can have tannin too!

Because of this harmony of red and white wine attributes, Rosé can go beautifully with many foods that most might only pair with either a red or a white wine. Their generous fruit and staunch acidities make them matchable with a vast array of dishes. Have you ever been out to dinner at a nice restaurant and everyone at the table orders drastically different dishes, and the host is struggling to choose a wine that can fill the tall order of being tasty with Chicken Caeser Salad, Seared Rare Tuna and Grilled Ribeye. Rosé, along with Riesling and Champagne by the way, might be their huckleberry!

And whats more is that Rosé is made in a wide variety of different weights, from lighter bodied quaffable styles to full bodied deeply textured styles. This means that while Rosé can obviously be sipped at your fourth of July barbecue it can also be enjoyed in front of a cozy fire in the dead of winter, in other words all year round. Any season is Rose season here at PMW and no matter what time of year we always have some tasty pink wine on deck.

The last and certainly not least reason why we love drinking Rosé so much is because, its just so damn easy to drink. After a long day of tasting red wine being hit over the head with heavy, extracted, or tannic wines, Rosé seems perfect cleanse the palate and take our minds off the daunting task of deciding which of the ten Pinot Noirs we tasted are worthy enough to be featured in our humble store.  The same way many use a cold beer to relax after a hard day at work.

If our passion for pink wine isn’t obvious by now, we encourage you to come on down to the shop and see for yourself how dedicated we have been to putting bottles of Rosé into our customers hands for decades.

With that in mind we would like to give you a peak at what Rosés we have been especially excited about lately. We’ll have you know that this is just a mere glimpse of what we offer and theres plenty more where that come from.

Have you seen our Spanish neighbors lately? Nah, I think they got tired of our late night shenanigans and moved across the bay.

Have you seen our Spanish neighbors lately? Nah, I think they got tired of our late night shenanigans and moved across the bay.

Arnot-Roberts Touriga Nacional Rosé-California $27 
“New wave pioneer Arnot-Roberts strikes again with this delicious Rosé made from Touriga Nacional and a splash of Tinta Cao, grown in the rocky and volcanic soils in Clear Lake. The nose shows fresh strawberry and blood orange, while the palate is bright with great acid and a savory saline finish. Very limited production.”

Division Pinot Noir Rosé- Willamette Valley, Oregon $24
“The wine is showing floral and spice nose with savory and wild strawberry aspects. The palate mineral rich, like wet rock, and intense in strawberry and Rainier cherry. The wine is light and crisp and has an intense wild pink salmon color. Out of the gates and drinking very well, but will likely evolve coming months and gain in complexity.”  190 cases made.

Domaine Collote Pinot Noir Rosé- Marsannay, France $21
“As soon as the grapes arrive at the cuverie, they are pressed, then fermentation and “élevage” is in stainless steel in order to keep all the fruit of this wine and preserve its freshness and youth. The Marsannay Rosé, soft and fruity, is backed with good strength and liveliness.  It rosé color has red currant hues. The aroma evokes freshly harvested fruit and  peaches.”

Domaine du Bagnol Grenache, Mourvedre, and Cinsault Rosé- Cassis, France $29
“The Rosé is produced from several parcels that comprise slightly less than 7 hectares of vineyards.  The vineyards are clay and limestone, situated on a gentle slope with a north – northwest exposure.  The blend is Grenache (55%), Mourvedre (31%) and Cinsault (14%).  Production tops out at about 40,000 bottles per annum; approximately 6000 bottles are allocated to the US market.”

Ameztoi Rosado di Hondurabbi Beltza- Getariako Txakolina, Spain $22
“The pink sibling of Ameztoi’s flagship white, this vibrant rosé is made from a mix of red and white indigenous grapes and is bottled with a little residual carbon to give it a light spritz. Fermented in stainless steel. Candied red fruits combine with a lime infused edge makes this a wildly intriguing rosé. The bottle will not last long!”

Graci Rosato di Norello Mascallese- Etna, Italy $20 
“Vessel cement tanks, no malolactic fermentation. Five months of contact with fine lees, natural filtration. One month in bottle before release. Pale salmon pink. Very elegant and understated, with pretty red whole berries Palate: Harmonious and sublime, exquisitely balanced throughout. Ripe berried and saline finish.”

Please remember we offer 10% off any twelve bottles of wine. This can save you some coin when you are putting together a case of Rosé for your next weekend event.

Cheers and thank you to our loyal patrons.