When driving through rural Maine’s hilly countryside, most wouldn’t think twice about the unremarkable low-lying fields beyond the road. But step onto one of those stretches of green and you’ll notice red-tipped leaves alongside emerald-hued foliage, tall white flowers dancing in the breeze, and tight bunches of ripening blueberries huddled together against the bluster. What may have appeared at first glance to be a mere meadow is in fact a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. This is a wild blueberry field, the bedrock of a burgeoning wine industry in Maine that could help save one of the state’s most precious heritage crops.

Wild blueberries—smaller and more tart than the produce aisle’s hybrid varieties, and genetically distinct from them—are indigenous to this state. “Maine wild blueberries are not to be grouped with hybrid blueberries from other states, nations, and continents,” says winemaker Michael Terrien, co-owner of Obsidian Wine Company and founder of Terrien Wines in Northern California, as he confidently threads his way through a blueberry field. Stopping abruptly, the Maine native bends down to examine a cluster of fruit—‘wild blues,’ as they are affectionately called. His eyes, the same color as his prized berries, radiate enthusiasm as he explains that the wild fruit has grown naturally in Maine for more than 10,000 years. Bushes are never planted; rather, farmers establish their businesses around naturally occurring shrubs. “Therein lies the fruit’s sustainability bonafides; we haven’t messed with the genes,” says Terrien, which means wild blueberries are inherently more resilient against pests and disease. 

“Maine is the only state with wild blues in any significant quantity,” he explains. However, “precisely because they have never been bred, they are at a commercial disadvantage to hybrids.” Yields are low: on average, a field can only produce about 2 tons per acre, according to the USDA and National Agricultural Statistics Service, far less than the 10 tons per acre of commercially bred varieties, and wild blues can only be harvested every other year. Competition from Canada—the only other place that grows wild blueberries abundantly enough to be commercially viable—is also hurting Maine’s farmers. In recent years, the value and volume of the state’s wild blues have fluctuated wildly: in 2017, prices dipped to 25 cents per pound (2021 saw some relief, with prices reaching 70 cents per pound), and in 2020, the crop’s yield fell below 48 million pounds, the lowest haul since 2004. 

Baked into muffins, folded into pancake batter, or eaten by the juicy handful are how most people know and love wild blues. But Terrien saw the potential for something more. The winemaker realized he could apply his vintner skills to the fruit—and help revive the struggling crop by increasing demand, generating interest, and providing farmers with more opportunities. 

Fruit wines are not a new concept, but many are cloyingly sweet. Terrien knew blueberries had all the components to make a dry, vinous-like wine. Blueberries contain sugars that can be converted into alcohol—part of the standard winemaking process. Plus, the naturally occurring antioxidants allow wines to age slowly, protect them against oxidation, and help keep the beverage stable, meaning little to no sulfur needs to be added. The one thing missing is tannins, which provide body and texture to wine. Through trial and error, Terrien and his co-founder Eric Martin found that adding bubbles to blueberry wine gave it a texturally interesting mouthfeel that replicated the sensations created by tannins. Finally, in 2014, Bluet was born.

The first sip of a blueberry wine is tart, but distinctly redolent of the namesake fruit. What follows on the palate is an elegant spice, calling to mind black pepper. With its acidity and sparkling texture, the beverage is lively and refreshing, not heavy or syrupy. It is, dare I say, surprisingly wine-like. 

Like all sparkling wines, blueberry wine should be served chilled, and its low level of 7% alcohol by volume (ABV) makes it ideal for the warm summer months. For an extremely easy cocktail, Terrien recommends adding a splash of triple sec and a sprig of mint.

Cognizant of the challenges facing wild blueberry farmers, the state introduced a bill in March to make the state’s Down East area, which is home to a dense population of blueberry fields, a National Heritage Area. If the bill passes, the resulting job opportunities and increased tourism will provide much-needed funding for the region’s agricultural industry.

Small farmers make up about 40 percent of the wild blueberry industry, and Terrien sources blueberries exclusively from these boutique farms to help them increase production and ultimately revenue. But one winemaker can’t shoulder an industry alone, which is why Terrien is encouraging other entrepreneurial souls to start their own wineries.

One protege is R.A.S., founded by Joe Appel, Dan Roche, and Emily Smith. The winery recently released the second vintage of its Arkadia blueberry sparkling wine. R.A.S.’s fruit, sourced from organic farms, goes through a longer maceration period than Bluet’s, which gives the wine a deeper color and more intense flavors. The makers also use naturally occurring yeast to kickstart fermentation. The result is a wine with an earthy and savory quality, and intense herbal notes reminiscent of pomegranate and rhubarb. And the company is not limiting itself to sparkling wine. The makers have also produced an aromatized wine called A7 Americano that infuses wild blueberry wine with organic herbs, spices, and fruit, then fortifies it with brandy. The resulting beverage can be used in vermouth-based cocktails such as Manhattans and Negronis, or enjoyed on the rocks. “We wanted to make a fortified/aromatized wine that could be used creatively as a mixer, but could also provide lots of pleasure when sipped on its own,” says Appel.

In this nascent industry, there’s plenty of room for experimentation. Terrien’s assistant winemaker, Davis Martinec, plans to harvest his first crop of blueberries this year for his own yet-to-be-named label. While he’s still figuring out his style, he knows one thing is clear: the quality will be there. “[In Maine] we don’t have to try and force something into a box, like trying to grow grapes where they don’t want to grow. Here, you’re taking a fruit that loves being here, that wants to be here, and making wine out of it.”

The post The Future of This Berry Is at Risk—Could a Burgeoning Wine Industry Come to Its Rescue? appeared first on Saveur.

The Giant of Languedoc is steadfast in his beliefs. Well over six feet tall, handsome and silvery, Gérard Bertrand glides through the cocktail hours, dinner parties, and concerts of this summer’s Jazz à L’Hospitalet. Charmed guests, colleagues, and staff orbit him throughout the biggest event of this year in green and peaceful Narbonne. On the heels of 2020’s pandemic hiatus, some attendees seem particularly frenzied for connection, clutching their glasses of sparkling rosé as they clamor for a few words with the man who made it.

The owner of 16 wine estates in France’s Languedoc-Roussillon—a region with millennia of viticultural history and a reputation for producing exceptional rosés—Bertrand is also said to be the largest independent producer of biodynamic wines in the world. After patiently waiting my turn to speak with him, the ambient bustle seems to calm as the winemaker fixes his eyes on mine. “We have to explain to people that biodynamic farming is more than a philosophy,” he insists. “It’s also a cultural method. This is the best way to keep the soil alive.” 

My ordinarily oversensitive bullshit meter is mellowed by some combination of jetlag, the dazzling Mediterranean sunshine, and this guy’s distractingly perfect hair; I’m instantly sold.

I’m not alone—convincing people to see wine the way he does is kind of Bertrand’s thing. For all his successes, this local boy and former pro rugby player hasn’t ventured far from home. He grew up caring for the vines on his family’s vineyard, Château de Villemajou in nearby Corbières—the business he took over at 22, following his father’s untimely death. Even then—long before Languedoc was recognized as one of the world’s great wine regions, and certainly pre-dating Instagram’s recent love affair with rosé—Bertrand had a sense that his homeland was destined for distinction.

A personal interest in homeopathic medicine eventually led him to Rudolf Steiner’s writings on biodynamics, and in 2002, he started experimenting with those techniques on a few acres of Domaine de Cigalus, where he lives with his wife and two children. After some promising results, Bertrand then began applying what he learned throughout his steadily-growing empire of wineries.

To date, he has converted all of his nearly 2,200 acres of vineyards over to biodynamic practices (many are fully certified, while the rest are currently in the process of conversion). With such a vast portfolio, he’s hardly zeroed in on any one color or style; the Gérard Bertrand website currently offers dozens of different varieties for sale in the U.S., including reds, whites, and even an orange wine. But right now, we’re in the South of France: Is there really anywhere else in the world more synonymous with rosé?

In the blush category alone, Bertrand offers a dizzying range, from widely distributed, fruit-forward crowd pleasers (Côte des Roses), to a transatlantic Jon Bon Jovi collab (oui, “Hampton Water”), to super-premium, strictly biodynamic estate bottlings like Château la Sauvageonne’s La Villa Rosé and—the crown jewel of his rosé empire—Clos du Temple. Here are a few things I learned about this sweeping category from the Giant himself.

MYTH: Rosé is meant to be drunk young. 

Ok, there is something to this one: Traditionally, these easy-drinking wines have been made with the intention that they’ll be drunk right away—as in, within a year or so after bottling. But that doesn’t mean you should worry if you forget a bottle or two in the cellar. Stored properly (in a cool, dark place) these classic, casual rosés will remain fresh and lively for a couple of years. That means you can feel free to take advantage of the seasonal sales at your local wine shop and stock up for the cooler months, when many stores pare down rosé selections to make way for heavier reds.

While most of these breezy bottles aren’t intended to be aged, that doesn’t mean truly cellerable rosés don’t exist. Vintage rosé champagnes, for example, improve with the grace we all hope for, growing in beauty and gravitas over the course of decades. In nearby Provence, the Peyraud family’s Domaine de Tempier has long produced a coveted blush Bandol which is snatched up as it drops each spring; while most consumers almost certainly drink this wine young and fresh, Jancis Robinson wrote tenderly about tasting a 27-year-old bottle of the stuff, describing it as “probably the finest pink wine I have ever drunk.”

In 2017, Bertrand took over a Cabrières estate now known as Clos du Temple with the intention of creating a biodynamic rosé worthy of a long-term residency in the cellar. He selected the vineyards for their particularly rosé-friendly soil—a combination of limestone and schist—and climate, which together produce juice with heightened structure, freshness, and minerality. Six months on the lees in oak stabilize the liquid’s color and complexity. The resulting wine is perfectly lovely young—spicy and a little bit creamy, with pretty notes of peach and orange blossom—but Bertrand urges restraint, pointing out that it’s meant to improve for five to 15 years, if not more. “We want to put rosé in a new paradigm,” he says. “What was important for me was to deliver a sense of place, of the terroir. But for that, you need to wait a little bit in order to have those secondary aromas.”

MYTH: Rosé season is over.

While no one can argue with a chilled glass of rosé paired with peak-season summer produce, that’s hardly a reason to stop drinking blush wines once the temperature starts to dip.

Medium- and full-bodied rosés pair nicely with plenty of cool weather fare. Back in Languedoc, Bertrand likes to serve sweet-fleshed Mediterranean langoustines with Clos du Temple, but Stateside, buttery Atlantic lobsters work just as well with a structured still rosé or even pink champagne.

Laurent Chabert, the 28-year-old chef who oversees culinary operations at Château l’Hospitalet and L’Hospitalet Beach, keeps a lush kitchen garden on the winery grounds, and while he acknowledges that the Château’s house blush is a natural fit for shellfish and summer classics like heirloom tomatoes, he’s also quick to point out that rosé pairings remain on the menu year-round.

In the fall and winter, he pairs them with roasted root vegetables perfumed with “garrigue”—the medley of aromatic herbs growing wild throughout the Southern French countryside—in addition to truffle dishes, and just about anything with saffron.

It’s not just Chabert. Restaurants in the area offer rosés with heartier fare as well, including the casual dockside La Cambuse du Saunier Gruissan, which serves a surprising riff on cassoulet made with Toulouse sausages, tender braised cuttlefish, and an aromatic flourish of sauce persillade. The hearty bean stew is a revelation paired with any of the seven local rosés on the menu.

MYTH: Rosé is cheap.

In winemaking as in spirits, age and price, while not strictly codependent, are obviously linked. Blush wines are typically sold young, so it follows that the category includes loads of great, affordably priced options.

Many rosés on the market—plenty of very good ones!—never see a day in oak, let alone years in a cellar. Since winemakers and somms needn’t sink precious time into the category, they’re able to sell crushable pink wines at a much lower price than more onerous styles. Bertrand’s sweeping selection certainly includes attainable rosés—most notably the pearly, mineral Gris Blanc (frankly, a steal at $16).

However, age and cellarability are not the only indicators of price. Sustainability concerns come into play as well. Many natural winemakers, among them the team at the devoutly biodynamic Clos du Temple, practice more time-consuming farming techniques that prioritize the health and wellness of the land—and of the people and animals living on it—over scale. This typically results in smaller—and, many argue, better—outputs than conventional methods. At $175 a bottle, Clos du Temple is one of the most expensive still rosés available today. Does this exclusivity defeat the purpose? Bertrand doesn’t think so. “It’s important to help people to believe in a better future,” he tells me. “We don’t need to drink wine to stay alive—not like you have to eat every day—so viniculture must be an example for the rest of agriculture. That is the reason we push so very hard.”

Recipes

Tomate à la Narbonnaise (Heirloom Tomatoes Stuffed with Feta and Basil)

Get the recipe for Tomate à la Narbonnaise »

Razor Clams en Persillade

Get the recipe for Razor Clams en Persillade »

Cassoulet de Seiches à la Gruissanaise (Cuttlefish Cassoulet with Pork Sausage)

Get the recipe for Cassoulet de Seiches à la Gruissanaise (Cuttlefish Cassoulet with Pork Sausage) »

The post It May Be September, But We’re Not Done Drinking Rosé appeared first on Saveur.

As fun and easy as it would be to say that a pissaladière is a French pizza, it’s very much not. Sure, it has a yeasted dough. It’s savory. Leftovers are delicious for breakfast. It even sounds a bit like you started to say “pizza” and got lost in another language on the way. Instead, the etymological and cultural origins of pissaladière are derived from something decidedly not pizza-like: a salted, fermented fish condiment.

Originating from the Nice region of France, pissalat (or pissala) is made by layering baby anchovies and sardines with salt, spices, and herbs, and fermenting the mixture for 45 days before pressing through a sieve to remove the tiny bones. While less common now, it is still possible to find artisanal pissalat. According to Rosa Jackson, a Canadian expat, food writer, and owner of Les Petits Farcis, a cooking studio in the Old Town of Nice, fishermen continue to make pissalat in the Niçoise region during the month of May, when anchovies are in season. Early versions of pissaladière were spread with the potent fish paste before a layer of onions was added.

Today it is more common to employ whole, fully-grown anchovies, scattering them and small Niçoise olives across a thick layer of deeply caramelized onions. The base remains a yeasted dough. “It has to be an olive oil-based bread dough, not a pastry base,” says Jackson. “It’s similar to the bread dough that’s used in a fougasse.”

Treasured as a street food and often sold and eaten as a late-morning or early-afternoon snack in Nice, pissaladière is easily—and regularly—made in the home. Mimi Thorisson, the author of A Kitchen in France and French Country Cooking, says her “favorite time to serve it is lunchtime with a salad and a little glass of wine.”

While the ingredients and techniques are simple, each of the following tenets are key in creating a superior pissaladière at home. The final—some might say most important—rule lies outside the kitchen: always serve with well-chilled rosé.

Get the recipe for Pissaladière »

Yeasted Dough

While Julia Child did say you can use a puff-pastry base (and who are we to cross swords with Julia), an authentic pissaladière requires a yeasted, olive-oil-rich dough at its base. Thorisson calls the base “a French focaccia” with origins just across the French-Italian border in Italy’s Liguria. According to Jackson, the final dough should be “slightly thicker than a pizza” but also “shouldn’t be outrageously doughy.” It’s this textural balance that makes all the difference in the final pissaladière.

Onions

A thick layer of deeply caramelized onions anchors any good pissaladière. According to Larousse Gastronomique, “a good pissaladière should have a layer of onions half as thick as the base if bread dough is used.” To concentrate their sweet, savory flavor and achieve a jammy texture, onions should be cooked low and slow for upwards of an hour or two. Jackson uses a deeper pan to ensure the onions don’t brown too quickly, covering them with a parchment round to keep the moisture in for most of the cook time. “You’re really melting the onions,” she says. “When they’ve gotten really, really soft, you can let them brown. At that stage you need to stir them constantly to make sure they get an even color.” The final color should be deep golden, as the onions will continue to cook in the oven.

Anchovies

Anchovies are the fishy reason we have pissaladière in the first place and are not to be skipped. Some cooks toss them in the pan with the onions, allowing the little fish to melt in and infuse the final tart with their umami flavor. Others layer them over the top, adding punches of briny flavor in decidedly artful designs. Thorisson prefers to make a modern take on the pissalat, a trick she learned from her aunt on the French side of her family. “You often see pissaladière with anchovies in a crisscross pattern, but that’s so salty,” she says. “I opt for making a modern paste of five to eight anchovies packed in oil mixed with the same number of sardines.” Whichever way you go, seek out the highest-quality fish.

Olives

The olives used in a pissaladière are the small, black Niçoise variety. If you can’t find them, substitute Kalamata or another brine-cured black olive but know it’s not going to give you a truly authentic Niçoise pissaladière.

Rosé

When asked what people drink with pissaladière, both Jackson and Thorisson are very clear: rosé. While not an ingredient in the pissaladière itself, the Provençal wine is a key component to a Niçoise table. “Rosé is what people typically drink in Nice,” says Jackson. “It’s light, crisp, and cold, produced all around the region, and goes really well with Mediterranean food.”

The post This Savory French Tart Is an Excellent Excuse to Drink Rosé Year-Round appeared first on Saveur.

A lot has gone on in the world of rosé this summer.

Notorious Instagram celebrity The Fat Jew launched White Girl Rosé, capitalizing on the widespread likeability of dry, crisp pink wine. Yes Way Rosé, an Instagram account-cum-brand, launched both a nail polish color and a wine labeled simply as “Summer Water.” The shocking news that men drink rosé broke. The word “brosé” nearly broke us. Last week, Bon Appétit’s editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport typed a letter to rosé, announcing that they needed to “take a break.”

Once seen as a gross, sweet blush wine, Rosé’s public-reputation trajectory from unhip to trendy to “over it” has been a fast, dramatic, well-documented bandwagon ride. But all of this ignores the fact that rosé wine—like Merlot and Chardonnay, often unfairly stereotyped—can be much more than just light, refreshing, and cheap. It can be effervescent and puckery, it can be funky and cloudy, it can veer sharply towards red. Squeezing rosé into a physical box is just fine; limiting it to a conceptual box does a disservice to all potential drinkers.

“In this country, people associate rosé with a certain weather profile, with ‘rosé season,'” explains Jorge Riera, Wine Director at Manhattan’s Wildair and Contra, a wine bar and restaurant that both focus on natural wine. When summer ends, so does demand.

The characteristics of mass-marketed rosé are a product, naturally, of supply and demand: producers learned that millions of people like dry, light, rosé that doesn’t inspire much thought and is easy to drink. But to confine a whole shade of wine to one season, one flavor profile, is to forget how wine is actually made—from a variety of grapes grown in a wide variety of climates—to create a wide variety of flavors. There is a whole lot of weird rosé out there, and it is time for us to get weird with it. Instead of kicking your rosé ritual, how about mixing it up and trying a rose that can still surprise you? One way to do this is to go natural.

The different flavor notes that you can find in natural wine—wine made without preservatives or chemicals, and often by human hands—is astounding. Unfiltered rosés can be cloudy and reminiscent of a farmhouse cider; in places like Sicily and Sardinia, you can find wines that vermouth maker and natural wine advocate Bianca Miraglia calls “holy shit funky but fruity and delicious and amazing.” And Riera says the same (without saying “shit”). “When you’re drinking these mass-produced rosés, “you’re not even tasting [the grape]” due to their heavy reliance on sulfites [read: preservatives],” he says. “Sulfites kill the personality of the grape.” And no one wants that.

When wine is made naturally, and grapes are allowed to express themselves (and their terroir), we get much more than just something drinkable. We get something with character, something that feels singular, something we’re less likely to tire of.

Here are 7 rosés that will stave off boredom:

If you’re looking for something light and crisp and familiar:
Fointsainte Gris de Gris, 2014, $12
This bottle is a “crisp, fresh, light, bright, clean rosé that you can find anywhere,” Miraglia says. “It’s the prototypical French rosé.” And it’s affordable.

If you’re looking for something strange and beautiful:
Vers la Maison Rouge, 2013, $130
The 2013 from Jean-Yves Péron is a rare aged rosé—bottled exclusively in Magnums—and comes from old vines 500 meters above sea level. Riera loves it because it’s “very particular, full of energy, and full of fruit.”

If you’re looking for a go-to region:
Any Loire rosé
In this region, Miraglia says, “You can get rosé from almost every grape in almost every price range, and lots of natural wine, too.” It’s a great place to get “that dry, clean, fresh wine” we’ve come to know and love, but Loire winemakers also make excellent sparkling rosé.

If you’re looking for “holy sh*t funky, but fruity and delicious and amazing” rosé:
Susucaru, 2014, $25
Pick up a few of these bottles, which come from Sicilian winemaker Frank Cornelissen.

If you’re looking for something that goes well with food—and you can drink all year:
Panevino en Rose, 2013, $40
This rosé comes from volcanic soil and has a great minerality, says Riera.

If you’re looking for something sweet:
Rosé d’un Jour, 2013
This is a sweet rosé from winemaker Mark Angeli that has plenty of acidity to balance it all out. “It’s so fresh, it’s like drinking strawberries,” says Riera.

If you’re looking for a BOX:
Jenny and Francois, Year and price varies
Miraglia recommends Jenny and Francois, whose 3-liter boxes will last up to 3 weeks in your fridge, and make party planning much, much easier.

The post Keep Rosé Weird appeared first on Saveur.

Rosé is more likely to solve your problems than create them; it’s easygoing, the sort of thing to sip on while relaxing in the shade, and amenable to a wide range of foods. But there’s one issue that wine drinkers everywhere confront: decoding rosé’s color, which can range from the palest blush to full-bloom azalea. The first question most people have upon seeing a darker rosé is: Will this wine be too sweet?

In short, the answer is most likely no. Darker rosés may bring to mind pink drinks like the artificially flavored, sickly sweet Boone’s Farm, but the reality is that a quality rosé, even if it is dark, will contain neither added nor residual sugar. A rosé’s color can, however, give you some important information on how it was made, and how it will taste; in general, lighter rosés are bright and crisp, darker rosés have more fruit and body. It all depends on skin and time.

As David Keck, wine director of Camerata at Paulie’s in Houston, Texas, explained, one of the main factors in a wine’s color is skin contact. This refers to the amount of time that winemakers allow the juice to remain on the red skins before removing them—it can be as little as a few hours, or as much as several days, depending on the producer and regional style.

Perhaps the best example of the differences between lighter and darker rosés can be found in southern France, where pale pink Provençal rosé and deep ruby Tavel wines from the Rhone Valley are produced with special care and pride. These regions are known for their pink wines, and they even plant grapes specifically for rosé, which is not the case everywhere. “In a lot of places, people make rosé as a byproduct of their red wine production,” said Keck, referring to the saignée technique in which winemakers briefly macerate red grapes with the skins, “bleed” some juice off for rosé, then use the more concentrated juice to make a red wine. Because of Tavel and Provence’s focus on turning out top-quality rosé, he added, “they’re harvesting the grape when it’s at the perfect balance of fruit, acidity, and ripeness to make a beautiful, balanced rosé” with just enough richness and acidity to satisfy the thirst that a great meal generates.

In Bandol, a sub-appellation of Provence, rosé is made with a heavy dose of the grape Mourvèdre, which lends a slightly darker hue to the wine. Bandol rosé must be made with between 20 to 95 percent Mourvèdre. “Mourvèdre makes a rich, dark, super tannic red wine,” explained Patrick Cappiello, wine director at New York City’s Rebelle and Pearl and Ash restaurants. In rosé, he said, Mourvèdre provides a “rich texture,” but also a “razor-like acidity, which can make for a light, crisp, refreshing rosé.” Mourvèdre, Keck added, is a “richly colored grape.” And climate plays into such varietal characteristics; Cappiello pointed out that grapes growing in warmer climates tend to have “thicker skins, so the rosés will be darker.” Because of the high proportion of Mourvèdre in Bandol rosé, it can be slightly darker than the broader Côtes de Provence rosé, which can include a wider variety of grapes from all over the appellation, Keck pointed out.

All of these factors affect a rosé’s color, but when it comes to a winemaker exercises his or her judiciousness—and expressing a regional style—it’s about determining the amount of time that grapes sit on their skins, In Tavel, winemakers typically “let the juice sit on the skins for more time,” up to 48 hours, “which gives the wine more tannin and structure, and as well a more intense fruit profile,” explained Keck. This style of rosé, which is known rosé d’assiette—meaning “rosé for the plate,” as in for a meal—displays a more savory quality, and concentrated fruit.

Pale Provençal rosé, meanwhile, “has a flavor profile somewhat closer to white wine,” explains Keck. “It’s more floral, with gardenia and white blossoms, bright high-toned fruit, and often more delicate flavors.” The juice is frequently removed from the skins within the first 12 hours during maceration.

For foods with stronger flavors—like grilled or smoked seafood—Keck recommends a bottle of the richer Tavel. “Whereas for something lighter, like sushi or poached salmon, I’d lean toward the lighter style of rosé,” he advises. A Provençal style rosé is also great for drinking on its own, without food.

While Provence is famous for its pink wine, France isn’t the only country producing great darker-hued rosés. Lee Campbell, wine director for all of Andrew Tarlow’s Brooklyn restaurants and rosé fanatic, is particularly fond of Italian rosato. It is often darker-hued and “pairs fantastically with food,” she says. In the central Italian region of Abruzzo, they call this style of rosé Cerasuolo, which translates to “cherry”—and is also a good description of the wine’s color, often similar to that of a light red. It can be found not only in Abruzzo, but in Tuscany and Sicily as well.

Regardless of where your wine comes from, it’s important to keep an open mind—after all, there are no hard-and-fast rules to wine pairing, and sometimes an unlikely wine can be a surprisingly good fit. Dana Frank, wine director at Portland, Oregon’s acclaimed Ava Gene’s, suggests we forget about the sweetness question, and instead get excited about the range of rosé wines out there. “I ask guests [whether] they want a richer, fuller rosé, or something bright, light, and easy drinking,” she said. Once you know how to judge a wine by its color, you’re well on your way to enjoying the variety of rosés out there, either with a meal or while relaxing on a patio.

If you’re looking for a lighter rosé: Try the Peyrassol Cotes de Provence ‘Commanderie de Peyrassol’

If you’re looking for a darker rosé: Try the Domaine Pélaquié Tavel

The post How To Judge A Rosé By Its Color appeared first on Saveur.

There is plenty of summer fun to be had on Long Island: spending a day at Jones Beach, strolling around Main Street in East Hampton, or a day on the boat out at Montauk. There is also a lot of local rosé to be enjoyed.

While the Provençal region in France is undoubtedly the historic motherland of classic, dry rosé, vineyards on eastern Long Island have begun to produce their own, and are giving more traditional bottles a run for their money.

There are few wine-growing regions that are completely surrounded by salt water; Long Island is one of them. The surrounding ocean breeze provides a natural, balanced acidity to the grapes, which creates a ripening curve, or a window of time in which the fruit is ideal to be harvested, that yields low sugar. And low sugar make for fresh, elegant wine.

Provençal-style rosés are typically made from early ripening Bordeaux varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. These grape varieties grow beautifully in the cool Long Island climate, due to a combination of the loamy soil and fresh ocean breezes, so the area’s winemakers are able to create that signature light dryness in their rosés that we are used to from their Provençal cousins.

Here are 3 Long Island Vineyards making great rosé right now:

Wölffer Estate
Located in Sagaponeck, within the town of Southampton, Wölffer Estate is making rosés with five to six different grape varieties, which adds a sophisticated complexity. Their Summer in a Bottle has a label reminiscent of a garden, bursting with super-colorful flowers; the wine has a lively, summer aroma and tropical fruit notes.

Croteaux Vineyards
Croteaux is the only vineyard in the United States exclusively dedicated to producing rosé wine; that alone is a reason enough to try a bottle. Co-owner Michael Croteaux explains that “with rosé, you make it and sell it all in the same year. It was the only wine that made sense for us, the farm, and our lifestyle. We were always serious beach people—not serious wine people.”

Sparkling Pointe
As the name implies, all the wine at this Southold vineyard on the North Fork of Long Island is sparkling. They make a dry, citrusy, copper-colored Topaz and a sweet, pale pink Carnaval Rosé. The Topaz exudes a more savory, drier flavor; the Carnaval is sweeter, with stronger notes of red fruit. Winemaker Gilles Martin says, “Every day is a celebration of life, and every day is a great day to have rosé.”

Summer in a Bottle Rosé 2014, $24 at store.wolffer.com
181 Merlot Rosé 2014, $19 at shop.croteaux.com
Topaz Imperial Rosé, $26 at whiskeyandwineoff69.com
Carnaval Rosé, $34 at wineweb.com

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Every Friday this summer, we will be celebrating Rosé Fridays, and sharing stories and information on the best of pink wine around the world. Today, the 5 American rosés that you need to know about for the Fourth of July.

When celebrating the Fourth of July holiday, it’s only polite to decline a glass of European rosé and pledge one’s allegiance to the vineyards residing on American soil. (That’s considered patriotism, right?) Luckily, a number of American winemakers are making this very easy for us, according to chef Rob Newton of Brooklyn’s Wilma Jean.

At his Southern comfort food restaurant, Newton offers an all-American wine list to go along with his fried chicken and burgers. So we spoke with him about his favorite American-made rosés, and will be drinking them this weekend while grilling burgers and watching fireworks.

Fox Run Vineyards, Rosé of Lemberger 2013
Lemberger grapes, native to Germany, are uncommon in the states. Lucky for us, Fox Run Vineyards in upstate New York grows them, thus allowing us to drink like Europeans while supporting the fruits of our country’s home-grown labor! Fox Run Vineyards borders Lake Seneca, which provides an excellent buffer against weather extremities, making it feasible to grow grapes in a cold climate. What Newton likes most about this rosé is that it’s extremely user-friendly. “It’s not too rich, but it’s not too light. It’s right in the middle with a good acidity, so it’s really easy to drink,” he says, and suggests pairing this rosé with your favorite go-to burger, ribs, or chili. Carnivorous, rosé-loving Americans rejoice!

Robert Sinskey Vineyards, Vin Gris of Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir rosé is typically more complex than your typical pink wine, with deeper and more intricate layers of flavor. As Newton put it, “[This is] a wine that really makes you pay attention to what you’re drinking.” Drink this complex rosé with cured meats and cheeses, olives, or anything bitter.

Charles & Charles, 2013 Rosé
Newton sees this wine as consistent year to year, easy to pair with food, and extremely well-balanced. It’s grown and produced in Washington State’s Columbia Valley vineyards, and it’s known for its bright acidity and citrusy finish. If you’re feeling adventurous, Newton encourages you to pair this rosé with a green mango salad, or any light, summer fruit salad.

Silver Thread Winery, Dry Rose of Pinot Noir 2014
Another vineyard that overlooks Seneca Lake in New York, Silver Thread prides themselves on an environmentally friendly wine cellar and sustainable farming practices. Newton says, “The wine really opens up. It has a couple extra layers of flavor that you can uncover as you drink it.” If you’re planning on grilling simply prepared steak or seafood, like lobster or shrimp, this Fourth of July, this a great summer wine to add a bit of complexity to your meal.

Mouton Noir, Love Drunk 2014 Rosé
This rosé is produced in Oregon, and it’s mostly chardonnay with a little Pinot, making for a crisp and refreshing rosé. The flavors are strongly reminiscent of Champagne, yet still infused with the cool-climate grape variety for which Oregon is best known: Pinot noir. Newton looks to coconut curry chicken or Mexican-style corn as fitting counterparts.

Rosé of Lemberger, $15 at shop.foxrunvineyards.com
Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, $32 at astorwines.com
Charles & Charles 2013 Rosé, $14 at wine.com
Dry Rose of Pinot Noir 2014, $16 at silverthreadwine.com
Love Drunk 2014 Rosé, $17 at amazon.com

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Tasting wine is always fun, but often intimidating. To help demystify the process, we’ve called on Thomas Pastuszak and Jessica Brown, husband-and-wife wine geeks and sommeliers at a couple of top New York restaurants: Thomas currently serves as the wine director at The Nomad Hotel, and Jessica helms the wine program at The John Dory Oyster Bar and The Breslin Bar & Dining Room. Between them, they’ve got a surplus of wine knowledge to share, and each month they’ll choose several wines to taste side-by-side to help us calibrate our palates and understand our preferences. This month: the world of rosé.

It’s that time of year again. The weather’s warm; we pull out our white pants and shoes from the closet; beachfronts everywhere start to get crowded; and wine shop shelves resemble candy stores filled with every shade of pink. Everyone seems to agree: it’s rosé season.

So, what exactly is rosé? Well, it’s wine that is traditionally made from red wine grapes (such as pinot noir, cabernet franc, and grenache) that are harvested and pressed with minimal skin contact. Essentially, we’re talking about producing a white wine made from red grapes, with just a touch of color and fruit from the skins.

Red wine gets all of its body, color and tannic structure from the skins of the grapes and is made by letting the pressed juice sit with the crushed skins for many days to several weeks. You can make white wine from red grapes by not letting the skins sit with the juice at all, or you can make rosé, by letting the skins “bleed” just a touch into the wine. How long a winemaker lets the skins sit in the juice, and what grapes the wine is made from, play the biggest role in determining the shade (and ultimate style) of the rosé.

Rosé got a bad rap for a few decades, as it was confused with white zinfandel, or blush wine, a category of generally cheap, sweet pink wine. But the majority of rosé is dry and crisp. With rosé, you are getting all of the freshness and energy of a bright, acidic white wine, with the added texture and fruit complexity that comes from the grape skins. It’s a great wine for pairing with food as it’s great with white wine-friendly dishes (vegetables, seafood) and can also stand up to richer ingredients that you might pair with a red (lighter game, weightier fish, pork).

My Essential Rose, Provence, France

The world of rosé today is more exciting than ever, because rosé is being made all around the world, and in many more styles than you’d find even five to ten years ago. The most famous examples of rosé have always come from the south of France, specifically Provence. One of our favorite and very affordable Provençal rosés is the My Essential Rosé 2014, made by our friend and Master Sommelier Richard Betts. This is rosé made from the classic grapes of the region: grenache, syrah, and cinsault. Aromatic and fruit-driven, it’s like a red wine on the nose, with the crackling acidity and freshness of a white wine, bursting with sour cherry, raspberry, and strawberry flavors.

Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol Rose, France

Close to where the My Essential is made (and still technically in Provence) is the sub-region of Bandol. Known best for its hearty reds, made with the uber-tannic mourvedre grape, some of the most profound and age-worthy rosés come from this area. A favorite and easy-to-find example is the Château de Pibarnon Rosé 2013. Here we get silky tannins supporting darker red fruit tones and a smoky minerality. Bandol rosés generally have the stuffing to stand up to richer dishes that you would typically pair with red wine. And they’re special in that, thanks to the mourvedre grape’s inherent structure, they can age and improve with time in the bottle.

Ameztoi Txakolina Rose, Spain

Jumping over to the Iberian peninsula we discover the versatility of Spanish rosé, or rosado. A favorite low-alcohol rendition comes from the Basque country: we’re talking about txakolina rosé. Bottled with just a hint of spritz to it, the Ameztoi Txakolina Rosé 2014 is one of the top-selling Spanish rosés in the US, and is based on the Hondarribi Zuri and Hondarribi Beltza grapes. This is the probably the lightest and most citrusy of all the rosés we’re covering here, with subtle briny notes and intense minerality. Plus, it is extremely handy to have pool-side.

CVNE Rioja Rosado, Spain

If you’re in the mood for something darker and richer but want to stay in Spain, head inland to Rioja. Yet another region best known for its age-worthy reds, there are also wonderful rosés being made here. The CVNE Rioja Rosado 2014 is a great example—made from the local tempranillo grape, it has a fruit profile of black cherry, currant, and lemon pith. Not only is the fruit flavor richer, the color is also significantly darker than the Ameztoi (or any of the other rosés in this lineup).

Kelby James Russell Cabernet Franc Rose, Finger Lakes

The most recent entrant into the world of rosé is the United States. Today Oregon is making some mean rosé from pinot noir; in California you will see syrah rosé and even esoteric varietals that come from the Old World, like Touriga Nacional and Trousseau. In our home state of New York, the Finger Lakes is making a very strong push with its cool-climate rosés made from cabernet franc. The Kelby James Russell Rosé 2014 is an awesome pick from the new guard of winemakers exploring the potential of the Finger Lakes region. Left on the skins for slightly longer than most winemakers would attempt, the result is a rosé with flavors of black raspberry, meyer lemon, and the telltale, peppery-spice character that the cabernet franc grape is known for.

While rosé is released in the spring, and most people love it in its youth, served chilled on a warm day, we’d argue that you don’t have to limit your enjoyment of these bottles to the summer. We think that being told, post-Labor Day, that it is “out of season” just like white pants or spring ramps, is simply not true. Rosé is not a vegetable. It should be with us all year long.

My Essential Rosé 2014, $17 at sussexwine.com
Château de Pibarnon Rosé 2013, $32 at westsidewines.com
Ameztoi Txakolina Rosé 2014 17$ at wine-searcher.com
CVNE Rioja Rosado 2014 $13 at wine.com
Kelby James Russell Rosé 2014 $16 at getwineonline.com

Jessica Brown is a sommelier and wine director of The John Dory Oyster Bar and The Breslin Bar & Dining Room.

Thomas Pastuszak is a sommelier and the wine director at The Nomad Hotel.

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Every Friday this summer, we will be celebrating Rosé Fridays, and sharing stories and information on the best of pink wine around the world. Today, the world of natural rosés—and why you should care about them.

The story goes that a few years back at a dinner surrounding the Meilleur Sommelier de France competition, Olivier Poussier (who held the title of Meilleur Sommelier du Monde) was asked to offer a toast to rosé. Instead, he delivered its obituary.

In front of his Provençal hosts, Pouissier proclaimed that rosé had become a travesty. The true version no longer existed. The death of rosé—a refreshing drink in the heat of summer, a wine that did double duty at the pool and the table—had come thanks to a marketer’s obsession with a certain blushing virgin color. And that color? The palest of pinks. Onion skins. Eye of the partridge. Inner thigh of a virgin (I’m not kidding there). When one is obsessed with a color instead of a wine, that’s a problem.

This travesty isn’t just limited to France. Worldwide, winemakers have been disrespecting the grape and its potential for quite a while. Some of the greatest offenses: chemical agriculture; aromatic yeasts (which can alter a wine’s smell); a slew of industrial processes and additives. But perhaps, when it comes to rosé, the worst accusation of all is manipulating color by way of technology.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t drink color; I drink a wine. And if a color is the main point of what I’m drinking, I’ll pass. You see, that pale rosé color is achieved mostly through PVPP (polyvinylpyrrolidone), a polymer with a checkered past. Its usage history ranges from blood plasma substitute to battery additive. In most of Provence, winemakers use it to achieve that perfect shade of blush.

As enologist Pierre Sanchez explained it to me, “Grapes are harvested relatively ripe and at rather high temperatures [in Provence]. The juices are generally quite colorful in the press, but can turn dark or orange” thanks to oxidation and bacteria. So winemakers often turn to PVPP. “[This] also tampers with certain aroma and flavoring compounds: PVPP ‘corrects’ bitterness and smooths out the flavor.” When running after a color, the identity of a wine is lost.

Ever since the EU organic laws outlawed PVPP for organic wines, those who are organic (but not natural) turned to the alternative, a pea enzyme. Natural winemakers—those who work pretty much within the bounds of organic viticulture and don’t add or remove anything during winemaking—did what they always have done: make a rosé from their desired method, and take whatever color they get. If you want to explore the difference in rosés with organic or biodynamic viticulture, low to no sulfur, natural yeast and fermentation, no enzymes and a respect for a color that changes with every vintage, feel safe knowing that there are plenty of glorious natural ones. After all, both virgins (past and present) and rosés really do come in all shades of pink.

Here are five natural rosés to try out this summer:

Domaine de La Realtiere 2014 Rosé Cuvée Pastel
A rarity: a natural, sulfur-free Provençal rosé made from grenache, cabernet, and cinsault.
$12 at wine-searcher.com

Domaine Chevrot 2014 Rosé de Pinot Noir Sakura
A couple of years ago when I visited Pablo Chevrot in the burgundy village of Marange I knew he’d go more natural, and he did. I think of this wine as a cherry in the rain.
$16 at bootleggersliquor.com

La Clarine Farm 2014 Rosé
Made from mostly syrah and a little grenache; comes from the granitic soils of the Sierra foothills.
$18 at laclarinefarm.com

La Boutanche 2014 Rosé
Pure fun. That’s all. Made from Loire Valley gamay, this wine isn’t going to change anyone’s life, but it will certainly bring pleasure.
$17 at chambersstwines.com

Rojac Royaz 2013
A no-sulfur sparkler that is perfect for breakfast, hailing from Slovenska Istra, Primorska (that’s Istria to you). Refosc and syrah are the grapes.
$23 at wine-searcher.com

Alice Feiring publishes The Feiring Line, a newsletter focusing on real natural, biodynamic and organic wines. She is also the author of The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization as well as Naked Wines. Her next book on the natural wines of Georgia will be out in Spring 2016.

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Some people celebrate the start of summer by firing up the grill or heading to the beach, but for me, summertime equals picnics. I love the ease and un-fussiness; the food is made entirely in advance, so there’s no last-minute rushing around. And because the meal is served on a blanket, there’s no need for flowers or candles or seating arrangements. Lounging outdoors in the grass or on the sand with bare feet, friends, and a spread of good food is summertime gathering at its absolute best.

Roast Chicken Pan Bagnat with Olive Tapenade and Goat Cheese

There are a few rules to keep in mind for a perfect picnic. First of all, plan a menu that can be served either chilled or at room temperature. And keep in mind that the food will be sitting out for several hours, so finding a spot in the shade is crucial—both for comfort and food safety. I like having a range of food options: a vegetarian side dish or grain-based salad (both of which keep better than green salads, which tend to wilt in the heat); a hearty sandwich or roasted chicken; and something to snack on, like a dip and raw veggies or cheese and crackers. Add something sweet and easily portable, such as cookies or brownies, for dessert. And make sure you have a variety of drinks and a cooler full of ice. I love rosé, but it’s nice to bring some beer and something nonalcoholic like lemonade, plus plenty of water. If you’re planning to picnic quite a bit, it’s worth investing in a nice picnic blanket with a waterproof underside and a cooler to transport the food. Stock up on some cute, reusable plastic plates, wine glasses, and cutlery for an elegant touch.

This menu is a nod to those Provençal picnics of my early twenties. A pretty spread of crudités is served with a lemony crème fraîche dip with herbes de Provence, the quintessential Provençal seasoning combo of thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, and often, lavender. The main attraction is a hearty twist on pan bagnat, a pressed Provençal sandwich typically made with tomatoes, peppers, olives, anchovies, and tuna that I stuff with black olive tapenade, goat cheese, roasted chicken, and thinly sliced vegetables. A light quinoa salad filled with scallions, mint, snap peas, and crisp haricots verts tossed in a Dijon vinaigrette are easy sides that are perfect served at room temperature. And finally, for dessert? Mini financiers studded with raspberries. Everything can be made ahead, packed up, and served cool or at room temperature. Here’s your game plan:

The Menu

• Herbed Crème Fraîche Dip

• Roast Chicken Pan Bagnat with Olive Tapenade and Goat Cheese

• Quinoa Salad with Sugar Snap Peas, Scallions, and Mint

• Haricots Verts with Dijon Vinaigrette

• Raspberry Financiers

The Game Plan

• Two Days Ahead: Do the shopping and buy the rosé. Make the tapenade.

• One Day Ahead: Blanch the haricots verts and the Dijon vinaigrette; store them separately in the refrigerator. Make the crème fraiche dip and chill. Make the quinoa salad and chill. Make the financier batter.

• Day of the Picnic: Make sure the rosé is chilled. Bake the financiers (they taste best the day they are baked!). Toss the green beans with the vinaigrette. Assemble the sandwich one to two hours in advance; press and wrap tightly. Pack your picnic basket and cooler, grab blankets, and head to the park!

Suggested Rosé Pairings

Domaines Pierre Chavin, Villa Victoria Rosé
Chateau l’Arnaude, Juliette Rosé

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