WTN: Ribs and Rose

We enjoyed an array of three different pork rib preps and sides, each presented with two pink wines.

I went first with pork ribs roasted in the oven and not anointed with any sauce accompanied by sauteed mushrooms and leeks..

2015 Blue Mountain Brut Rose - from a B.C. producer, made from 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay, it was clean and crisp.

2021 Kelley Fox Maresh Vineyard Pinot Gris - this was really excellent - lovely mid pink colour and an excellent nose.

Next up (I'll let Jenise recount the other food descriptions) was:

2025 Trader Joes Bandol Grand Reserve - so pale that it could have been a white wine, a hint of RS but not more - decent and batting way above normal weight for this sort of wine.

2023 Bueno Notte Columbia Gorge Rose - dolcetto, sangiovese and a tad of moscato, another surprise - dark, decent fruit and crisp acidity, albeit a tad cloudy.

2024 Groiss Rose Angel's Kiss - from Austria and very pale with clean acidity and good length, an Austrian zwiegelt and pinot noir blend

2021 MabyTavel Prima Donna - Grenache (40%), Cinsault (40%) and Syrah (20%), this tavel was medium dark, had a very nice nose and finished cleanly with good length.

2023 Chivite Colleccion 125 Rosado - this Spanish wine from Navarra is Tempranillo and Garnacha Tinta and got 9-10 months in French oak. Mid colour, good balance and length.

After all the pink wine there was a call for a finishing wine so I hit the cellar and came back with:

1988 Château de Rayne-Vigneau - in half bottle, there was talk about how likely it was that it was still alive, but fortunately it was fine (my cellar is a fairly cool one at 13 C.) It showed a sweet apricot nose and some hazelnut and orange peel and I thought it was quite presentable.

[Jenise]

Fun day! Cathleen had a blast.

2015 Blue Mountain Brut Rose - Though this didn't drink like a new release, neither did it drink like a 12 year old. Always impressive.

2021 Kelley Fox Maresh Vineyard Pinot Gris - Bill, you and I need to get out a color wheel and discuss shades of pink. I described this as rusty cranberry color, which would to my girlish mind be darker than "mid pink". Anyway, this deeply macerated rose is one of Kelley's masterpieces, year in/year out. It has been two years since I last tasted one. Comparing this to that, that was the apogee as the vibrant, specific fruit flavors (apple, pomegranate) have been scuttled into interesting, dry and savory tones.


So my turn at bat. I made Five Spice dry rubbed ribs finished in Bill's broiler with an oyster sauce glaze. I paired that with a salad of chive dumplings, cherry toms, water chestnuts and blanched pea tips in a chili crisp vinaigrette. The wines were not an attempt at matching so much as throwing three things at the wall to see if anything sticks. That said, the Bandol worked best.

2025 Trader Joes Bandol Grand Reserve - "so pale that it could have been a white wine" No! It was still pink. Yes a light shade but I've seen roses with almost no color, and this wasn't one. As for the light sweetness, this is young, only a '25, and the wine finished dry. The fruitiness will age out in a year.

2023 Bueno Notte Columbia Gorge Rose - I chose this because it's a blend of grapes you'd never expect to see outside of Italy. The cloudiness you mention isn't a fault, it's just unfiltered. It was a little more reserved than when I bought it a year ago, but still I loved it. A lot of body for a rose, it had earthy fruit with an assertive nose of Earl Gray tea--that bergamot perfume in an otherwise very dry wine is a real turn-on for me, and that aspect improved in the leftovers overnight. I think this wine will show even better a year from now.

2024 Groiss Rose Angel's Kiss - this was nice, but the hypnotic aroma it had last summer is no longer there. Makes me sad! As such, if I were going to line up all the wines in order of greatness? Though not a dog, per se, this would be last place.


So next up was Kim and Alvin. Their ribs had a nice cayenne spice and were finished with an apricot glaze. I absolutely loved their side salad: corn cut straight from the cob, onion, cherry tomatoes and finely chopped cabbage and carrots--all grown in their community garden.

2021 MabyTavel Prima Donna - Grenache (40%), Cinsault (40%) and Syrah (20%). Not as opinionated (herbaceous) as the Mordoree Tavels I used to buy a case of almost annually, but it's very expressive and elegant. I just love Tavel!

2023 Chivite Colleccion 125 Rosado - Loved this one. For the day, it was possibly the most complete/everything-on-display of all the wines a best-of-both-worlds (tempranillo and grenache) blend of citrus peel and pie spices on the nose and turkish fig, pomegranate and tangerine on the palate.

Bill's dessert wine:

1988 Château de Rayne-Vigneau - Medium golden brown color. Yes, this was good, I'll repeat your description of apricot, hazelnut and orange peel. What I especially liked about it was how bright the acids were; old Sauternes can be cloying, this wasn't.