Beach House Rosé (eh)

The Wine: Beach House Rosé from South Africa.

I’ll admit it – I started drinking Beach House because of the label. (Marketing people: a starfish will get me every time.) But I keep drinking it because I like it. (Some day I will post about Beach House White, another under-$10 I enjoy.) The rosé, though, we tried tonight for the first time.

The tasting notes for the rosé from the LCBO say “clear bright coral colour; strawberry and cherry aromas; medium body with ripe berry flavours and balanced acidity”.

I love the colour, it’s beautiful to look at, and I definitely get the (delicious) cherry and strawberry smells, but I don’t get an overwhelming berry taste. It’s got a deeper flavour, somehow, than other rosés I’ve tried, and I love it. And at $8.95 a bottle how can you go wrong?

As the spouse says: “it’s not quite a white, and it’s not quite a red, but man!”

The Whine: It’s seasonal, and is only available in limited quantities. I recommend trying it while it’s available!

Vinho Verd-eh?

It’s fun, it’s spritzy, it’s $8.95 a bottle! Or, if you shop at the SAQ in Quebec you’ll pay $11.30 (suckers). This Aveleda Fonte vinho verde from Portugal is slightly fizzy, dry, and highly drinkable at only 10% alcohol. It’s zippy, zingy, tingly, and refreshing. I mostly get citrus from it…maybe some green apple, too. It’s a delightful summertime patio wine.

The LCBO website suggests serving it with oysters, grilled shrimp or deep fried calamari. If you come to my house you’ll be having it with party mix from Costco (it’s fun, it’s crispy, it’s $6.95 for a giant bag!)

Yes, it has a cheesy label. But it’s nice to know that if I go to Portugal a young man wearing tights and a puffy shirt will serve me vinho verde poured from whimsical fountain while I lounge at his feet.

You should plan on drinking it in one go, or  at least within a day or two, because it loses its spritz if it sits opened for too long. Give it a try! If you’re having a party, the magnum is only $15.95.

Greek white!

Out for dinner at a Greek restaurant on Danforth the other day, the smooth-talking waiter convinced us to try the “greatest new thing, not yet on our wine list!” Restaurant wine prices always give me the heebs, especially since I know quite a few of the standby low-price LCBO items, and it can be tough to pay $7/glass when you know the bottle itself is only $7.95 (I’m looking at you, Farnese). ANYWAY. That’s what you get if you’re buying in a restaurant, and I flat-out asked the waiter what the bottle would cost; it was in line with the low range on their menu, so what the heck. (Image hunting reveals that the bottle we had seems to cost less than 4 Euros from overseas stores, so I’m betting that even with shipping the restaurant makes a killing charging over $30, but again: ANYWAY. I drank it, didn’t I? I sure did.)

This Tsantali Makedonikos White ($9.80) from the LCBO isn’t EXACTLY what we had; ours was called Tsantali Makedonikos Athiri (so I’m guessing it was a varietal they imported, while the LCBO carries a blend?). But for under $10 you could try this, especially if you are feeling cheap (or hot, like so hot you might put an ice cube in there, or start spritzering it with tonic water, or just pour it over your head if it’s coming right out of the fridge) and bored with the usuals. It was really perfect for lightening up the muggy-as-doom evening and the heavy food.

Yet more pink: Sibling Rivalry

I haven’t tried the Red or White versions from this Henry of Pelham “hip and cool” branded offshoot, but I decided to sample the Pink, and I like it! More flavourful than the extra-dry rosés below, but not as sweet as Yellowtail’s, it seems like a really good balanced all-purpose rosé, especially for sharing with people you think might be wary of an off-dry, but when you want the “pop” of flavour and not just a summer white. At $13.95 it’s in my “mid-price” range (hilariously). But that and the kicky marketing also means I’d be comfortable bringing it to someone’s house who I couldn’t trust to understand that I don’t mean my $10 bottle as a diss, but a compliment to their tastebuds’ ability to overlook a price tag.

Worth trying!

Off-Dry Wine Whine Featuring Lingenfelder

I never miss the opportunity to buy a few bottles of Lingenfelder Bird Label Riesling when it comes into Vintages (twice a year, I think).

I just don’t know how you could get a better off-dry riesling for $13.95. Which brings me to my whine. It seems every time I mention that I like riesling someone says “Oh, I can’t drink sweet wine”. Being an ABC (Anything but Chardonnay) wine drinker, I really shouldn’t judge. I should just accept. But, I can’t help wondering if they’ve only ever had Blue Nun or Black Tower and think all riesling is sickly sweet. See, I’m willing to admit that I can appreciate a really good chardonnay. But most really good chardonnay is about $50 a bottle. So the option is usually cheap chardonnay, and I may as well lick the side of an oak barrel. But you can get a really good riesling for $18 a bottle and not resort to Blue Nun. A couple of times a year, you can buy this good riesling for only $13.95.

ANYWAY, the 2010 Lingenfelder Bird Label Riesling pleases me, as has every year before it. Vintages says “this off-dry wine features lovely aromas of peach, nectarine, and citrus”….sounds about right. I always get a bit of honey, too. It has a lovely label to boot, which would make it a great gift wine if everyone didn’t hate off-dry wine. Harumph.

More pink

Apparently I thought I’d keep the Famille Perrin in business this month. Also described as “extra dry”, this has more flavour and body than the Ventoux, so we’re better friends. Not on the LCBO site, which makes me wonder if this is a gift wine, and perhaps does NOT fit my personal mandate of dirt cheap gulpers.

Famille Perrin Cotes du Rhone Réserve Rosé – app. $15.95?

First post! It’s pink.

But it looks red, in the glass (despite the fact that it seems pretty pale in the bottle). And it tastes mostly white, to me — like a REALLY tangy white. I’d almost go as far as to say “sour” but with food, it’s fine. It’s just not the patio sipping rosé I usually crave, nor is it the refreshing light drink of a Cotes du Provence, which comes out around the same time (I thiiiiiiink?). I feel like you could serve this to someone dubious about rosé and it would come across as classier than whatever it is people who are dubious about rosé are dubious about? The price is right, anyway.

Just noticed this is described as “extra dry” on the LCBO site, so that’s what I get for blindly buying whatever’s cheap and has a pretty label. 🙂

La Vieille Fermé Cotes du Ventoux Rosé, $10.95.