Missouri Wines

Think Pink

Posted at July 26, 2006 13:06

By Doug Frost

Is pink the new gray? My daughters certainly think so, and their fashionista abilities outstrip mine. For me, pink, at least in wine, never went out of style; it simply got lost amongst more conservative colors. If you blend reds and whites in the right proportions, you get pink, right? So what’s wrong with that?

Nothing. While many people assume pink means sweet, it doesn’t have to, and most European pink wines are nearly bone dry. Missouri makes gentler versions, and some are downright sweet. People don’t complain about their chocolate being too sweet. So, why is it a bad thing in wine?

It’s not. Sweet and semi-sweet rosés are offered by nearly every Missouri winery. Good examples include Augusta Winery’s River Valley Blush ($8), Montelle Winery’s Rose Gold ($12), Mount Pleasant Winery’s White Zen ($6), Ste. Genevieve Winery’s LaRose Rosé ($10), St. James Winery’s Country Red ($7), St. James Winery’s Schoolhouse Blush ($8), Hermannhof Winery’s Spring Blush ($9), Les Bourgeois Winery’s Pink Fox ($10), or any number of rosé wines from Stone Hill Winery including their Blush ($8), Rosé Montaigne ($8), Spumante Blush ($10), and Pink Catawba ($8).

Adam Puchta has two rosés. One, called Blush ($13), is light, soft, and sweet without being cloying. The other, simply called Rosé ($15), is based upon the Norton grape and is round, friendly, and dry without losing any of the character that goes along with the style.

There are two other intriguingly dry-styled rosés in Missouri: Crown Valley Winery’s Rosé ($14), a blend of Chardonel, Grenache, and Chambourcin, and Hermannhof’s Chambourcin Vin Gris ($13).

June 2006

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