*Disclaimer:  I am by no means a wine expert.  What I write is based on my own tastes and opinions as a regular old wine drinking gal.

I was reading a post online the other day in which the writer asked if rosé was like white zin.  I laughed out loud.  For real.  Not just LOL, but really laughed out loud.  Sadly, this pink hued wine is confused with that sweet nasty stuff and they aren’t even remotely alike.  Except that they’re both pink. And liquid.

We’ve all heard the trendy catch phrases:  Rosé All Day! Yes Way, Rosé!  S’il vous plait rosé.  Slay, then rosé.  They’re on t-shirts and coffee mugs and shopping bags, and wine glasses of course.  And the flavor is everywhere:  gummy bears, cupcakes, chocolate, lip balm, soap, jelly.  Yes, there is rosé jelly.  So maybe rosé has jumped the shark.  Even if it has, I’m still going to drink it (but you probably won’t catch me eating rosé jelly on my toast).

I only recently started drinking rosés – first getting into them about 3 summers ago.  They are definitely summer time wines in my opinion.  Tasting best when crisply cold, they pair with just about any food.   And the best part about rosé?  You can get a really good tasting, quality wine for a low price.  But, I must be completely honest:  it’s only my second favorite summer time wine.  My heart belongs to Vinoh Verde, but we’ll talk about that next week!

     My absolute favorite rosé also happens to come in a beautiful bottle:  Gerard Bertrand  Cote Des Roses rosé.  The bottom of the bottle looks like a rose, but my favorite part is the cool glass cork top.  I think the one word I would use to describe it is refreshing.  It has a nice light flavor and isn’t overwhelming.  I’ve purchased this at World Market for around $15.
  Sofia Rose is another beautifully bottled wine.  (*Important Side Note:  Do NOT Google “Sofia Rose” because evidently there is a porn star by that name, and well, you know how Google searches are.  That crap is going to follow me everywhere!)  I think this one is just as refreshing as the Gerard Bertrand, however this one is slightly more fragrant, and the color just a touch darker.  Around the same price point as the Bertrand, I picked it up at Total Wine.

   I think that Charles & Charles Rosé is perfect for picnics and barbeques.  I bought a bottle of this at Top Golf one night while we were there with a group of friends.  It was a typical sweaty Georgia summer night, and that stuff went down so well!  I had a bahn mi sandwich, and the wine held its own against the strong flavors of the sandwich.  This wine is relatively easy to find, as well.  I’ve picked it up at my local grocery store.

While touring Napa a couple years ago, we popped into Swanson Vineyards.  It was unplanned, and unscheduled but it looked cute and they were very accommodating.  The Sip Shoppe tasting room is decorated like a candy shop with striped walls.  The guy who served us was very knowledgeable about their wines, as well as Napa in general and even drew a map for us, showing us which restaurants to check out.  While there, we tasted several including their rosé.  We ended up ordering a few bottles that were shipped to our home about 6 weeks later after the wine was ready.  Their rosato is refreshing and easy to drink with a nice crisp finish.

Above, I mentioned that Vinoh Verde is my favorite summer wine, followed by rosé, so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a Vinoh Verde Rosé!  The Casal Garcia Vinoh Verde Rosé is the best of both worlds.  I’ll talk more about Vinoh Verde next week, but what you need to know is it’s light, super refreshing, with a slight effervescence.  It’s not as bubbly as champagne, but it’s fizzy enough to make it perfect for hot weather sipping.  This Vinoh Verde Rosé has the flavor of a rosé with the crispness of a vinoh verde.  And, it’s super inexpensive.  I picked this up at Total Wine for under $10.

Of course there are hundreds I haven’t tried yet.  Vine Pair published a list of 25 to try this summer, and glancing through it, I don’t think I’ve tried a single wine on the list.  Guess it’s time to get busy!  #summerwater