NV Cantina di Sorbara Lambrusco di Sorbara Omaggio a Gino Friedmann Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC
Not sure who brought this, it just kind of appeared. Vinegar nose and grapey/dry palate and finish. Hated it.
NV Il Serraglio 'Saliceto Buzzalino' Lambrusco
So Doran just brought this home from Italy. One of only seven wines he stuffed into his suitcase so obviously something he held in high esteem, and no wonder. Pale carnation pink with chalky red apple notes and bright acidity. Tiny, piercing bubbles. Hard to imagine this is the same wine as the other. Oh, and don't you love the name 'Buzzalino'? Not sure what it means, but I like saying it.
2017 Emidio Pepe Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Montepulciano
Warren's. Pale red colour. Cherries, peaches and Campari on the mid-palate with a hint of bourbon barrel on the finish. (Which is not to say it was alcoholic, it's only 13.5%.) An enjoyable rarity, both excellent and fascinating.
2018 Domaine de Fontsainte Corbières Gris de Gris Rosé Blend
Gabe's. Grenache, carignan and mourvedre. Pale, very dry and balanced. I've had some vintages that had some RS but this one's spot-on dry.
2018 Rocky Pond Winery Pinot Noir Rosé Lake Chelan
Mine. Peppery nose, bright watermelon and rainier cherry fruit. Delicate on entry but elegantly full on the finish. A terrific rose made from a vineyard on the Columbia River nearyby that surprised the group about the quality of Chelan winemaking. Excellent.
2018 Scenic Valley Farms 'Ramato of Pinot Gris' Willamette Valley
Tim's. A skin-fermented pinot gris resulting in a rose/orange wine. Orange/coral hued, fabu spicy gewurz-ish nose with onion skin and turmeric. Interesting stuff.
2016 Domaine de la Mordorée Tavel La Dame Rousse Red Rhone Blend
Mine, and my last bottle. So much for my aging experiment! Deep rose with a golden hue showing strawberry, cranberry jelly, tarragon, oranges and a hit of sherry-like flor. You can't really hide a Tavel in a blind tasting, can you? Has plenty of room left for evolution. Excellent.
2018 Château de la Bonneliere Chinon Rive Gauche Rose Cabernet Franc
David's. Very pale. Attractive unripe strawberry notes with dust and canteloupe. Excellent.
2018 Owen Roe Yakima Pink Yakima Valley Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese
Doran's. Super pale. On the palate, taut, tart and dry, with barely-there notes of rhubarb and clementine. Probably needs a few months to calm down and show more.
2018 Teutonic Wine Company Pinot Noir Rosé Laurel Vineyard Chehalem Mountains
Vicky's. Sweet raspberry entry and high acid with a crisp finish. Not sure how he does it, but it's very typical of Teutonic to nail that yin-yang thing between sweet and dry.
2014 Clos Saron Tickled Pink Sierra Foothills Syrah Blend
Trust Warren to come up with something like this. Orange color, tastes mature. Per the label, it's "The unexpected silly side of sun-baked granite slopes." Love what another reviewer described as not your average pool party rose--no shit! Made from 50% Syrah, 23% grenache and 27% viognier, it's as excellent as it is different.
2018 Domaine Collotte Marsannay Rosé Pinot Noir
Doran's. Elegant Strawberry fruit, and I get what another reviewer said about crayon. Good balance and intensity.
2016 Réserve des Chastelles Tavel Red Rhone Blend
Mine. I bought like two cases of this last summer and am down to just two bottles, so obviously I liked it a great deal. And while it's kind of low-end to bring an $8 Trader Joe's wine to this kind of tasting, the complexity and quality here made the perfect point about inarguable quality regardless of source. Black licorice, oregano and tarragon added to cherry and rhubarb fruit. The pleasantly bitter, Campari-like finish has become a bit rounder. Like negronis? You'll love this.
2018 Frog's Leap La Grenouille Rouganté California Valdiguié
Tim's. Interesting salinity, rose petals and mint. Only 11.7% alcohol, I like a lot!!
2018 Sonder Wines Cinsault Rosé Columbia Valley
Tim's again. Very pale. The nose; pea pod and caramel say other people, neither of which I could pick up on. Regardless, I liked it. Only 11.6% alcohol too.
2018 Novelty Hill Spring Run Stillwater Creek Vineyard Columbia Valley Rosé Blend
David's. Mostly syrah. A tad too sweet and monolithic, doesn't work for me.
2017 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Rosé of Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
Fresh and forward nose of watermelon, white pepper and paprika. Complex and nicely evolved on the palate too with superb minerality and great acidity. Excellent. (I buy a case of this every year and hold it to the following year.)
2017 Montenidoli Canaiuolo Toscana IGT Canaiolo
Candace's. Yellow onion skin nose, sweetish on the midpalate but finishes dry. Odd reduced flavors. Not my kind of rose.
2018 Jackalope Wine Cellars Columbia Valley Rosé Blend
When I saw the label, I blurted out "Did you buy this at a gas station?". Probably shouldn't have, but the contents actually confirmed the joke. Savory nose, sweet RS-riddled palate, low acidity. A blend of grenache, CS and CF.
And then the same guy (a wine distributor with access to all kinds of good things) who brought the Jackalope pulls out a Frey Organic label rose, and I don't even know if it was vintage labelled. What I do know is that it had a skunky, cooked cabbage nose and didn't taste any better. And while we're all sitting there gagging, he says "Should have put this out earlier," like the delay made it worse. Not so.