“Oh, come on. You guys have to be kidding me.” My terse comment was in response to the wrinkled noses and sideways glances that accompanied the offer, one recent balmy Sunday afternoon, “Now, who would like a glass of rosé?”
“I don’t like sweet wine,” said one friend. Another quipped, “Yeah, I mean, White Zinfandel? Who wants to drink red and white wine mixed together?” Oh man, I thought. These people are in trouble. They need help. Good thing for them, I’m a “pink” wine fanatic.
FIRST OFF, rosé wines are not all sweet. The vast majority produced today are bone dry, crisp and refreshing—the kind of wine you want to drink right out of the fridge on a hot summer day, accompanied by oysters or grilled salmon or a fresh green salad. It’s the kind of wine Mom would love (hint: Mother’s Day is coming!) – light bodied and dry, yet with juicy fruit flavors of red berries and even (sometimes) watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Rosé wine is hip, youthful and fun to drink (and yes, ladies and gents, it’s pink)—attributes that compliment our Boomer moms—and their moms, too.
SECONDLY, White Zinfandel is NOT a mixture of red and white wine. Zinfandel grapes are the third most popular varietal in the United States. White Zinfandel was originally produced using a centuries-old technique called the “saignée” method—when winemakers were pressing Zinfandel grapes to produce red wine, they would pour off a quantity of the juice and set it aside. The remaining juice sat with all of the Zinfandel skins, resulting in a stronger, more tannic red Zinfandel (think of it as a wine “reduction”). The juice that was poured off (remember, my friends, ALL grape juice is CLEAR, even juice from red grape varietals) only briefly touched the grape skins, picking up just a hint of color. Since this wine was not fermented with the grape skins, the resulting wine was light pink and low in tannins. Hence, White Zinfandel was born.
White Zinfandel suffers from a horrendous reputation for a very good reason—for decades, beginning in the mid-1970s, wineries like Sutter Home produced a sickly-sweet rosé that was actually a mistake. Their wine suffered from “stuck fermentation”, a problem that occurs when the yeast in a wine dies before eating up all of the residual sugar (leaving sugar in the wine). Instead of chucking it, the winery decided they liked the resulting taste (in the same way that Americans like ketchup, Coca-Cola and Hershey’s chocolate), labeled the wine White Zinfandel, and went on to promote and sell millions and millions of cases of the stuff. In short, White Zinfandel is the primary reason why none of my friends (or their cousins) will go anywhere near a “pink” wine today.
BUT did you know that people have been drinking amazing, fabulous, dry-not-sweet rosé wines for hundreds and hundreds of years? Germany isn’t just famous for Riesling—for more than 500 years, they have been producing rosé wines from Pinot Noir grapes (in Germany, Pinot Noir is called Spätburgunder). The same holds true for France, where pink wines made from the noble Cabernet France grape have been produced by Loire Valley winemakers for centuries. Today it is Provence that produces the most notable and popular rosé wines, primarily made from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Carignan grapes. But Italy, Spain and even Portugal are getting in on the action—and with delicious results.
So come on, give “pink” wine a chance. Check out these excellent examples of rosé wine, and surprise yourself and your friends with a light, red wine, perfectly suited to the coming summer months.
P.S. (postscript): While it is forbidden in many wine-producing countries, pink wine CAN be produced by blending a red and white wine together. Our above-mentioned friends at Sutter Home currently export a wine called “Ménage à Trois”, which is a blend of Gewürztraminer, Merlot and Syrah. There is some debate currently circulating among EU winemakers as to whether this kind of wine should be allowed to be called rosé, as it is not produced using traditional winemaking methods. While the jury is still out, use your power as a consumer to help the lawmakers decide!
About this Author:
Jacqueline Lombard, aka “The Green Gourmet”, is an accomplished chef, sommelier and entrepreneur. She edits the Dining Section of The New York Herald. Her online home is jacquelinelombard.com
The Review: A Bed of Rosés by Jacqueline Lombard.
Photo Credit: DKImages.com
You’re invited to a intimate house party among late twenty somethings. You’re asked to just bring yourself, but of course we all know it would be impolite to show up empty handed, especially if you’re known arond these parts as a lush. While a bottle of expensive liquor is always appreciated, for most occasions, the sublime strength of a quality wine is all that’s needed to get the conversation going. Unlike a grand dinner party, you generally want to spend less on a wine meant for a house party or even casual cocktail party, say on the deck. The good news is you needn’t spend a fortune these days to come impress your host with an excellent drink. Here are our recommendations, in order of category:
Photo: Taking credit for your good jokes. NYC
Credit: PSE/NYHerald
With mobile phone technology, consumers are spoiled. The Blackberry Storm, The Palm Pre, the Samsung Omnia HD, Nokia N97, so many innovative, top notch devices have come onto the market that it is astounding that iPhone is still the King. But like Labron James dunking over an All Star Team, the next iPhone killer is none of the above, but the still rumoured third iPhone. We have alot of beef with the iPhone, things like the lack of flash really get our goat around here, but after a couple of tough spills on the sidewalks of Brooknam, the shiny fella is still ticking, cracked glass, exposed chip board but absolutely no dents. It’s not just an iPhone, its a Mercedes Benz, at least when it comes to taking a hit.
The next iPhone is expected to be announced June 8th. How do we know? Their most ambitious rival, the Palm Pre, is expected to launch June 7th. There are alot of rumours that are being put out there by corporate operatives, in our opinion, for example, the rumour that iPhone is going to Verizon in 2010. While possible (Verizon gets a new network and the iPhone would be a perfect way to launch), more likely represents the two parties talking — the potential scenario is then played out in the blogosphere as a sort of focus group marketing. We love the idea, AT&T’s signal isn’t quite up to par, here in New York City, and Verizion is famous for occasionally letting you talk all the way down in the subways.
There are also wild rumours of the iPhone having super video capabilities (shoot video, edit it then text somebody with it attached, etc). To that we say, Apple needs to prove itself in this area with the basics first. The iPhone still camera sucks, and a rumoured upgraded to 3 megapixels isn’t a good sign. If there’s still no xenon flash, you know’ll that the imaging portion of the iPhone is still its soft spot.
In terms of video, if its not 720 HD, it’s behind the curve for a high end product that’s just coming out. The other area is its steadfast refusal of a QWERTY keyboard. Frankly we don’t get it, if margins decrease due to complexity and cost of additional keyboard hardware, why not just have a more premium ‘netpad’ type product? The missing ability that embarrasses an executive who dares to rely on an iPhone, is long-form typing.
Yes, real office work – the kind where memos and reports are created and exchanged. The iPhone is no joy when it comes to more than paragraph of typing. Besides speculative renders of an iPhone with a keyboard, many other manufacturers have come out with hardware that combines both beautifully. To Steve Jobs, this is the beauty of the iPhone – “no compromises”, and the formula’s worked well so far. There is perhaps one real challenge to the iPhone, a properly bespoke touch screen Android. We’re not talking the G1 or even the upcoming HTC Magic. More along the lines of the gorgeous (but said to be unavailable in the US) Samsung i7500 (pictured). Once Samsung is in the game, iPhone will be properly challenged. Their Omnia HD is a mega powerhouse of a device (its camcorder shoots 720 HD video), and combined with Android, it would be hard to deny on feature set alone. Yet the window opens June 8th, and iPhone will once again be the newest toys to have.
Behold the Panasonic, cough, Lumix GH1, the successor to the popular G1. The takeaway on this camera is that it promises everything, 1080/24 fps or 720/60 fps video recording with DSLR like depth-of-field yet with new micro four thirds technology that cuts the weight down. The lense has been completely redesigned to shoot either stills or HD video equally well, and sample footage provided by Panasonic was impressive. Add in a mic input and Canon 5D Mark II-beating $1,500 price tag and you have the makings of a super camera. Did we mention that Gray Lady’s gadget critic David Pogue is a big fan?
Our biggest quibble? While Panasonic’s AVCHD format is very efficient, doubling the HD recording time compared with Motion JPEG, it is quite compressed. The top end of AVCHD’s recording bit rate, 17 Megabytes per second, is significantly less than HDV — the price for getting rid of those pesky tapes. Panasonic of course doesn’t think it matters, and David Pogue says the footage looked remarkable.
Whether this camera will be the hybrid hit of the summer or simply a sign of things to come, Panasonic should he commended for their ambition in producing a camera that almost does it all at a relatively reasonable price point.
Popular gadget blog Gizmodo has in-depth advice on specific technologies you can use to not only reduce your home’s carbon footprint, but also save you some serious cash in the process. Much of the technology presented does have a big upfront cost, but these have come down quite a bit and Uncle Sam (as well as state governments) are incentivizing like never before.
Green technologies covered include the solar canopy, pictured above, as well as home-sized wind turbines, gray water systems, which re-use spent kitchen and shower water on your lawn, as well as more modest fare like the eco powerstrips that reduce watt leakage during standbye. Useful links include both a Texas utility’s rebate program and Uncle Sam’s. Like DVD players, Plasma TVs and microwave ovens when they were first introduced, the price of green technology starts high but is expected to continue falling – if you’d like to be an early adopter and role model for the rest of us, the government is ready to help you green tech your home and lifestyle.
Image Credit: Solar canopy courtesy Florian Solar Products.
