Four others and I decided to taste 6 different Northwest rosés. Each bottle was brown bagged and labeled with a number, so we could taste them blind and without bias. Well, most of us. Bugs bagged them and organized them generally from lightest to darkest. When we revealed the bottles at the very end, I was more than a little surprised! I'll let you know each wine upfront in the tasting notes that follow.
The 2008 Elk Cove rosé, made from pinot noir, greeted our glasses with a salmon color, almost a pale, peachy orange. The faintly fruity nose opened up with notes of strawberry and honeysuckle, but turned medicinal, like cough syrup, by the end of the night. Don't let this one sit open for more than a couple hours, and drink it today if you have a bottle in your fridge or wine rack. When at its best, though, it tasted of Rainier cherries and unripe stone fruit, and sang with acidity. It almost felt like orange juice on the back of my throat as the delicate tartness on the mid-palate developed into a zingy finish. The Elk Cove is an enjoyable sipping wine, but does not have enough substance to pair with food. Though I gave it a 7 in our 10 point rating system, it received an average score of 5.625. Those wine industry boys are pretty harsh with their scores.
Syncline's 2008 Rhone blend rosé is composed of 44% cinsault, 30% granache, 17% mourvedre and 9% counoise. It's pink color would suit a ballerina. Aromatic and creamy, three of us agreed it smelled like orange-glazed cinnamon rolls. I enjoyed the consistent acidity and the flavors of white peach and lemon, but the abrupt finish lost it a point. Overall, I rated it a 7.5 and it received an average score of 6.125. Only Bugs preferred the Elk Cove to Syncline.
Saviah's rosé, made from sangiovese, won my favor for the evening, but it was a hard decision. The nose was rich with strawberries and cherries, with a hard-to identify high note, perhaps lemon or key lime. In the mouth, it attacked with juiciness and and big refreshing acidity. Watermelon, strawberry, rhubarb and citrus dominated the palate at first, but a faint minerality gained presence as it opened up. We noticed a saline smell and flinty sharpness on the finish when we revisited it at the end of the evening. Tracking Saviah's evolution in the glass is a pure, pink joy.
After that glass of tasty, Waters' rosé was a huge disappointment. The dark, almost garnet-colored wine smelled grotesquely funky, like spoiled food, but with a hint of burnt figs. The vodka-and-cranberry-juice palate might suit some, but our group panned it and we all rinsed our glasses before filling them anew. Did Waters finish last because it was the oldest at 2007, just past its prime and suffering from the oxidation that marks old age? It's hard to know if it was old or flawed, doomed from the beginning by too-late a harvest or spontaneous fermentation with accidental yeasts. Bugs and I actually tasted and bought this at the winery in March, at which point it tasted deliciously of watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Sadly, bottle to bottle variation is inevitable. We thought we purchased a bottle worthy of $20 and a gathering of friends, but we scored it at 3.625 and promptly dumped it down the drain.
Happily moving on, we tasted Chris Gorman's "42-39-56," a raspberry-hued Red Mountain cabernet sauvingon, just lighter in color than Waters. "It's booze!" one declared, while another said it smelled "like the exhaust of an '86 Datsun." The nose, I thought, had a sharp vegetal aspect, perhaps of asparagus, but my palate tingled with the tastiness of a cranberry tart dessert and the sumptuousness of cherry liqueur soaked currants. Though lush and lively in the mouth, it lacked any agreeable aromatics. I rated it 6, and the group gave it 5.25.
Lastly, Barnard Griffin's 100% sangiovese rosé showed surprisingly well, tying with Saviah for best Northwest rosé. For such a cherry-colored character, the Barnard Griffin was expressive and complex. High notes of ruby grapefruit and tropical fruit complemented the background taste of raspberry and watermelon. As it opened, the fruit-forward nose revealed some feet stink, though others said it was cat pee. But don't be dissuaded. Usually sold at under $10, this wine is a great deal.
Surprisingly, the Saviah and Barnard Griffin, the two cheapest wines, proved the tastiest. Though they're both made from 100% sangiovese, the wine makers allowed them to develop in opposite directions. When compared side by side, Saviah's light color and subtle flavors quietly contrast Barnard Griffin's purple-hued cherry color and explosive fruit.
How long does the juice play and swim with the skins in the making of rosé? It's sensitive, so touch and go. When the time comes, the juice is pressed and fermented on its own. Most Washington wine makers, however, practice saigneé, the bleeding of the vats. This lowers alcohol content and increases concentration of flavor on the mother red wine. During this process, if the pink child isn't bottled as rosé, it simply runs down the drain. And that's no fun. Sometimes, we all need to wear rosé colored glasses and greet the world with a sanguine complexion and disposition.
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