Wine review: Charles & Charles Rose 2011

The blog has made substantial progress in its five-plus years of existence – helping wine drinkers appreciate cheap wine and local wine in particular, and adding to the limited number of resources written in English for beginning wine drinkers.

Its great failing, though, has been in rose. No matter what I do, I can’t find a way to interest you in dry pink wine. The rose reviews are rarely well read, and at a time when thousands and thousands of people visit the blog, their poor showing seriously hurts my numbers.

Someone more business savvy or better attuned to the ways of the cyber-ether would get the message and cut back – or even eliminate -- the rose reviews. Needless to say, the Wine Curmudgeon is neither of those.

Because roses are worth drinking, even when it’s not summer. The Charles & Charles ($10, purchased, 13%) is bone dry, food friendly, balanced and fruity – the sort of wine that would go with any informal dinner, afternoon wine sipping, or friends in the living room. It has lots of strawberry and watermelon, which is balanced with pleasant acidity and a touch of minerality.

This is what U.S. rose should aspire to -- enough fruit to please Americans, but not so much as to confuse it with sweet, blush wine.

Comments

[Bob]

We love a nice dry rosé. Have been trying to introduce them to our friends for several years and are finally starting to gain some traction on that front. Once they try them, they're generally sold.

[Spencer]

With your last statement you hit the nail on the head as to why roses (or their reviews) are not in great demand. The 80% of wine drinkers who are casual quaffers have bought roses thinking that they are white zins and the lack of sweetness turns them off. Their soda-infused, sugar with every drink palates aren't ready.

[maranasam]

Rose is delicious and goes so well with food. Always on the wine list in Europe, seldom in the US. Don't understand it Starting to see more in tasting rooms is a good sign.

[Jeff Siegel]

Thanks for the comments -- makes me feel much better about continuing to write about rose.

Having said that,. the number of visitors yesterday was about the same as for a slow weekend, so there is still much work to do.