Cuppla rosés for the summer season, mate.
January 25, 2017
Habits
CityMag Rosé Sample: Crush Festival 2017
Rosé has been declared a lot of things over the years – “too sweet”, “a bit gross”, and sometimes even “bleugh”. This year, however, it has been declared something else: the drink of Summer.
Remarks
These wines will be present at the 2017 Crush Festival, which runs from January 27-29. See the full program here.
All of the mentioned wines can be found within the CBD at independent wine cellars.
In the lead up to Crush Festival, we’ve put together a small but worthwhile list of independently made rosés to try while you’re out crushing it (sorry, not sorry).
Howard Vineyard – 2016 Picnic Rosé
“I firmly believe rosé is the future of Australian wine drinking.”
It’s a statement and half, but one that Howard Vineyard winemaker, Tom Northcote, firmly stands by.
“[Rosé is] the largest style of wine in France now, and we’ve seen a huge upswing throughout Asia as well. More importantly though, it’s crisp, light, goes well with foods, and it’s bloody hot in Australia so it’s the perfect drink. Absolute perfect drink.”
The 2016 Picnic Rosé, which happens to be a 2016 Adelaide Review Hot 100 contender, uses cabernet franc, which Tom says is “pretty famous in the north of France for rosés”. It’s savoury in style, with a crisp, crunchy finish that lends itself to cheese-eating.
“It’s got a little dryness on the palate as well,” says Tom, “so it goes through fattier or creamy cheeses because it’s got the lovely dry acidity. That little bit of savouriness works well with a double cream brie, or even lighter meat dishes or white seafood.”
The Lane – Adelaide Hills Rosé, Block Series
The Lane’s rosé is a classic dry, typical of European rosés. Savoury, clean and refreshing, winemaker Michael Schruers says that it’s a good one for both stand-alone drinking and a clever food pairing.
“Classic foods you could match them with are foods from the region they originate from. So some French food. These wines are quite delicate, so you don’t want to pair them with a steak or something like that,” says Michael.
“For a long while, rosé has been sweet and lolly-ish, but it’s become a lot more serious in the last few years. I think the Hills have been at the forefront of that with much paler, dryer styles of wine.”
Ngeringa – Rosé 2015
Ngeringa’s vintage rosé is a versatile beast: “We kind of call it our breakfast, lunch and dinner wine,” says winemaker Erinn Klein.
Style-wise, the rosé is “100% shiraz,” says Erinn. “That being said, it has a bit of richness in flavour and a heavier than average body and weight, it’s still light and refreshing.”
Unsure if Ngeringa’s rosé would make an amazing accompaniment to our standard weetbix and honey, we pressed Erinn for a more conventional food-pairing suggestion: he reckons a really simple pizza with just tomato and basil would do the trick.
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