Last Rosé Review for February - Vina Chocalan Syrah and Petit Verdot Rosé

Hello and happy wine Wednesday to my lovely readers!  I hope your week has been fantastic and full of new things, new wine and relaxation...

Rosé, to me, is a great example of a wine to relax with.  The colour is beautiful, the tastes are full of fresh red berries and it almost has the power to have you think you are sitting on a deck on a hot summer day when it is the middle of February in Canada!

Let's get down to the good stuff, and this weeks entry is damn fine!

Vina Chocalan 2011 Rosé is a fantastic, thirst quenching wine made for enjoying anytime of the year.  This stunning pink wine hails from the Maipo Valley in Chile.  The Maipo Valley is a premium growing location for grapes and this region has been delivering some excellent valued wines - such as this rosé.

Vina Chocalan is made up of 80% Syrah and 20% Petit Verdot.  It is such a fantastic blend for rosé!  I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this wine and, the brilliant part?  It is ONLY $12.99!  What?  It is $1.00 below my usual review 'price' but I had never tried a rosé from Chile nor had I heard of this wine so it was a gamble that paid off beautifully!

This rosé is a bright medium pink colour and is medium- in aroma intensity.  This wine does not hit you over the head - it is subtle, refreshing and crisp - full of red cherries, red currant, plum and strawberry aromas...YUM.  It also had a subtle aroma of stone and minerality that I am coming to love.

On the palate, Vina Chocalan is refreshingly dry with medium + acid.  It is medium in body and alcohol and flavour intensity.  All the fresh red fruit aromas are present on the palate as well as the hint of wet stone...quite delicious!

This is solidly in my "Hell Yes" category.

• Beautiful fresh red fruit flavours on the palate.
• Nice and crisp and refreshing
• An excellent value at $12.99!
• Pair with omelettes, frittata, or hard Italian cheeses.

This wine has made me completely excited for the arrival of summertime and sitting on my deck.  I hope you go out and pick up a bottle of this gorgeous rosé for $12.99 and indulge in a little bit of pink heaven.

Enjoy!

XO

C

To my Lovely Readers - help me choose the grape variety for March reviews...

Hello my lovelies...

I hope you are keeping wonderful and well.

This is a short, but sweet little post asking for your feedback and input on what type of grape variety would you like me to review for the month of March...?

Please leave a comment or send me a tweet @girlsgogrape or a message on Facebook and I will tally the votes and have my March blog posts dedicated to your top choice!

I would like it to be a grape variety and here are a few of the noble grapes out there in the world to choose from:

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Merlot
• Pinot Noir
• Syrah/Shiraz - same grape called different names 'Old World' vs 'New World'
• Grenache
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Riesling
• Chardonnay
• Gewürztraminer 
• Pinot Gris

These are all classic French grapes and it is my current focus at school right now so would love to focus on any of the above.

Thank you SO MUCH for your continued support and readership!  Looking very forward to the results and going wine shopping for my March GGG blog posts!

Enjoy!

XO

C

Domaine de Nizas Rosé 2011 Languedoc AOC, France

Hello and Happy Wine Wednesday!  I hope your week has been exceptional....

My choice of reviewing rosé wines this month has helped me with the grey February skies Vancouver, B.C. gets this time of year... We have actually been blessed with a few sunny days and blue skies which makes me hopeful that Spring is around the corner and then Summer - where rosé drinking is mandatory!

My review this week is on Domaine de Nizas Rosé 2011.  This beauty comes form the gorgeous region of France called the Languedoc where I was fortunate to visit in 2009.  This area of France is quite well knows for its' rosé production and moderately priced rosé options.

Domaine de Nizas's Rosé is a stunning blush/pale salmon colour in the glass.  On the nose, it had a medium intensity and aromas full of freshly picked strawberry, raspberry, red cherry along with a slight violet note.

On the palate, this blush beauty was dry with medium acidity and was light bodied.  The flavours on the nose showed up again on the palate - absolutely freshly picked strawberries and red fruits but this time there was a hint of 'minerality' which was divine.  This rosé had a medium finish and tasted nicely balanced and bright in the mouth.

Rosé's from France tend to be made up of a blend of grape varieties.  Domaine de Nizas's has 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre.  Each variety adds a different component to the overall taste and flavour profile of the wine and these vines are all 15 years old. Syrah and Grenache are the two black grape varieties that do very well in hotter, southern France climates.  Mourvèdre can ONLY ripen in hot weather and is used as a blending grape to add colour, complexity and richness.  I love learning what different grape varieties contribute to a given wine for desired results...fascinating!

Rosé is made with black grapes but has a very short window of time with the skins - hence the lovely shades of pink and salmon.  This rosé had skin contact between 6 and 12 hours only and was fermented in stainless steel tanks to keep the fruit flavour bright and noticeable.

So, my lovely readers - Domaine de Nizas Rosé is a "Hell Yes" for me.  I picked up this bottle at Everything Wine for $22.99.  I am giving it 8 grapes out of 10.

• A fantastic summer sipping wine!
• Great value and great colour!
• Wonderful to pair with any Mediterranean or Asian food.
• Tastes exceptionally bright and crisp in the mouth.

Thanks you again, and as always, for reading!

Enjoy!

XO

C

Marqués de Cáceres 2011 Rioja Rosado

Hello and happy Valentine's Day week to you!  I hope it has been filled with love and laughter and wine of course!

Thank you for your positive feedback on Girls Go Grape!  Your input, suggestions and comments mean to the world to me.

This week, my review is on a Spanish Rioja Rosado from Marqués de Cáceres 2011.  It is a blend of 85% Tempranillo and 15% Grenache.  Both grapes are indigenous to Spain and the Rioja region.  This was one of the earliest harvests that the winery has ever had due to the hot summer...and it comes out in the wine showing up as a bit restrained.  Almost like the heat got too hot and the freshness potential was a bit lost.

I picked this bottle up at Everything Wine for $16.99.  It was pale salmon/coral in colour and looked lovely in the glass.  This rosado had a medium minus intensity on the nose and was full of aromas of raspberries, strawberries, red currant and roses.  It had a slightly herbaceous note as well.

On the palate, the wine was dry with medium acidity.  It was truly a medium all around wine - medium body, medium alcohol, medium flavour intensity on the palate - again full of red fresh fruit and roses.  This is a simple wine.  It comes in at the low end of my price category and truthfully, I enjoyed the Monster 2011 Rosé a bit better.  I would rate this as a good wine but not a "Hell Yes".  It is one of those "Hmm, I am in the mood for something different and interestingly refreshing that isn't going to blow my mind but I want to experience something new..."  This is your rosado!  So - it is firmly in the GGG category of "If you are in the mood."

Also, a shout out to LM for suggesting I do a Girls Go Grape Un-corked evening!  Looking forward to sharing the information and knowledge I have gained so far with anyone wanting to know a bit more about their favourite wine.

That is it for me today...
Happy 'almost' Valentine's Day!
Enjoy!
XO
C

Monster Vineyard's Rosé 2011

Ahhh, February - the month of red hearts and Valentine's Day cards.  I could not help but choose rosé as my wine selection for this month.  In my opinion, rosé is often times forgotten as an option.  My love affair with this rosés started in 2009 in the glorious city of Carcassonne, France.  My husband and I were still footloose and fancy-free (read childless) and we travelled quite a bit.  We did a jam packed 2 week trip through the south of France and completed our tour in this fine, medieval walled city.

It was August and the day we arrived in Carcassonne registered somewhere around 38 degrees C.  Holy hotness...It didn't stop us from walking around the castle walls, up narrow staircases with archways built for people that stood no taller than 5'4".  At the end of our day, we stumbled into a tiny bistro that was set within a courtyard.  We asked the waitress what she suggested in regards to a wine selection.  She looked at us almost incredulously.  "Rosé, of course!."  And so it began...

My first rosé on the review block is none other than Poplar Groves' Monster Vineyard's Rosé.  I went to the Village VQA in Edgemont Village for my B.C. pick and the fellow behind the desk suggested it.  At $16, it just sneaked its' way into my price category and I am VERY happy it made it!  I had no idea that Poplar Grove, whose wines I love, had a second label in the market!

As you can tell by the photo, this lovely bottle stood out on the shelves.  I didn't quite know what I was looking at but I could see its' beautiful colour inside!

Monster Rosé 2011 is a medium pink colour with medium intensity on the nose with aromas of fresh red fruit - red cherries, red strawberries and cranberries.  On the palate, it was dry with medium + acidity and it was incredibly refreshing.  This rosé tasted as it smelled with those wonderful red juicy berries along with some gorgeous red grapefruit flavours.  It was nicely balanced - not complex but a great drinking wine for $16.00!  It had a medium finish and tasted great.  It is a youthful wine, so nothing to cellar here - just get down to enjoying it!

An interesting note - you want to serve your rosé cold - 7 - 13 degrees C.  This wine surprised me though - it was lovely nice and cold but it was actually quite wonderful when it came up to room temperature which made it an even better value.  This could be a brilliant patio drinking wine to gulp down happily in the summer heat or something new and different to try during a colder month for its uniqueness and refreshing taste.

So, my lovelies - Monster Rosé 2011 is a 'Hell Yes' wine.  I had a great suggestion from one of my charming male readers (TS) who suggested I do a quick synopsis at the end of my review as to the highlights of the wine.  Great idea.  Done!

• Very refreshing and great for a hot summer day or when you are feeling in the mood for a little pink! (Who doesn't like pink??)
• A fantastic pairing for tapas, grilled tuna or salad.
• For $16 - this wine delivers some great bang for the buck!
• I am rating this 8 grapes out of 10 for value and refreshing appeal.

Here's to February and all things pink!
Enjoy!
XO
C