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| Wednesday 2/11 6-8 pm no reservations needed $15 + 10% off wines tasted |
| Gerbais “Grains de Celles” Rosé Champagne extra brut NV Domaine Filliatreau “Fillibulle” Pétillant Rosé Vin de France 2024 Podere Sottoilnoce “Cattabrega” Vino Rosato Frizzante 2023 Andrea Occhipinti “Alea Rosa” Vino Rosato Lazio 2025 Cirelli Cerasuolo di Abruzzo “Anfora” 2023 Cibonne “Cuvée Spéciale des Vignettes” Côtes de Provence rosé 2023I see a dog. I pet said dog, and as I walk away, I utter to myself, “I love dogs.” I bite into an apple cider donut, and I announce, to no one, “I love donuts.” I go out to get a pour-over coffee (the shop’s espresso machine is on the fritz) and as I walk back to work, “I love coffee.” I bumped into a regular customer at a neighborhood restaurant last week; he’s a gifted character actor, and, referencing the TV show in which he has a recurring role, I embraced him and blurted, “I loved you!” I suppose I’m just a loving guy, yet it is a mystery to me why I need to repeatedly announce my love as if it’s news to me. This week, in anticipation of our national holiday of love, St Valentine’s Day, we’re pouring six different rosés I love for your delectation. I love rosé. None of the wines contain residual sugar. Three are sparkling, ranging from a pinot-dominant Champagne, to a more rustic frizzante made from an archaic, nearly extinct grape of Modena. A couple are slightly raunchy but fail to cross the borderlands into the land of the fucked. One wine ages in terracotta amphora, while another slumbers for a year in huge, ancient barrels, during which it undergoes biological aging through the activity of natural yeasts. A selection of rosé as varied as our experience and expression of love. Sure, some of the wines push the edge of the envelope regarding their identity qua rosé, for what is rosé, nominally or ontologically, other than the wines we name as such? We’re starting with an extra dry, pale rosé Champagne from 4th-generation vigneron, Pierre Gerbais, crisp, salty, refreshing. Then, two much more rustic bottles of fizz: one is a pét-nat made from organically farmed cabernet franc in the Loire; the other is from Lambrusco country, but cannot be denominated as such, as it is made from uva tosca, an antique variety traditional to the region, but no longer recognized and which the wine maker is trying to save from the precipice of extinction. To follow, two wines that we love and try to stock whenever they are available: the first is from volcanic terroir near Rome, and made from the unique, aromatic variety aleatico; the second is from the opposite side of Italy, and ferments and ages in terracotta amphora. To finish, a mind-blowing rosé from a tradition-minded grower in Provence, one that can age (if you can manage to keep your mitts off it – I, for one, cannot) and become more profound over time. |