2004 rosés

Three weeks ago, Robert Parker posted an informal “head's up that 2004 rosés, primarily those I have been tasting from southern France and Spain are very impressive....seems the cooler growing season has given them considerable aromatic dimensions in addition to crisper acid profiles and loads of fruit.” So, as a sometime dutiful lemming, I was off to Big Red, where I found three 2004 rosés, all from France, all modestly priced, and all imported by Kysela. As I was standing in line, a young woman behind me looked casually through my basket and then looked away, I imagine to conceal her little grin of superiority (I had to resist the temptation to peer into her basket competitively, but I bet it held over-oaked and overpriced chardonnay). There seem to be many inconclusive opinions about why rosé wine is so looked-down-on here. Years ago, people said it was because of my generation’s experimentation with Mateus and Lancer’s, sweet bubbly Portuguese rosés that were popular with marijuana. Twenty years later, they said the next generation’s disrespect was due to Sutter Home’s blush zinfandel. My own theory blames the fact that pushy waiters believe that rosé “goes with everything” so diners are fobbed off a bottle when one is having fish and chips and the other a porterhouse steak – guaranteed to disappoint everybody. Or maybe the culprit is the general belief that darker wines necessarily have more flavor. Turley Wine Cellars’ Ehren Jordan is quoted in yesterday’s New York Times about the move to make darker wines: ''There's no doubt that people are fixated with color. People seem to equate darker wines with better wines. For me it always seems odd.” Anyway, I made it home with my three rosés, chilled them and invited my daughter over to taste them with some anchovies, olives, beans and a roast chicken. Our impressions: (1) Beauvignac 2004, from a cooperative in Languedoc, made from 100% syrah grapes for $8. The color is a perfect match for the actual rose flower. The scent is pure strawberry, the flavor a little astringent. Pleasant, good value, but I won’t buy another. (2) Mas Neuf Rosé 2004, a wine made from 45% syrah, 45 % cinsault, 10 % grenache, in the Costieres de Nimes, for $10. The color had a touch of salmon to it, not quite as drop-dead gorgeous as the Beauvignac. The nose had lots of strawberries but other summer fruit as well, peaches and raspberries, a flower or two, and a note Leora called “red licorice.” It was gentle in the mouth, not sweet at all but soft and lovely. This was our favorite. (3) Chateau de Segriès Tavel, the aristocrat of Rhone rosés, 50% grenache and the rest cinsault, clairette and syrah, for $17. The color had a touch of peach, the nose was a sweeter strawberry than the other two, and the flavor a little fuller and more winey. This too was a nice wine and it seemed to complement the strong flavors of anchovy and olive well. I’d be happy with any of these. Just remember they don’t go with fish and chips or porterhouse, they go with summer.