For obvious reasons, I addressed the current Winemaker Roundtable question only to makers based in the northern hemisphere. But from the responses received, it’s quite possible that parts of Australia have enjoyed warmer weather during their winter than our own Northwest has experienced through much of this summer.
What wine have you and your family been enjoying most during the recent warm weather—and what, if anything, do you serve it with?
Jason Haas, Tablas Creek Vineyard (California). I am sure that you’ll get this response from dozens of your contributors, but I don’t think there’s a wine that can beat dry rosé for the summer. It’s great on its own, and works with a lot of the summer-weight foods you might want to be eating anyway. Drinking a rich, fully dry rosé with cold fried chicken while sitting at an outdoor concert in the Paso Robles downtown park was my summer pairing revelation! Of course, I drink a lot of our own rosé (the 2009 vintage is a blend of mourvedre, grenache and counoise) but I also love the grenache- and mourvedre-based rosés of the South of France, the pinot noir rosés from Marsannay, and the tempranillo-based rosés of Rioja. I also love that we can find one of our favorites (the Marqués de Cáceres rosé) for around $6 retail locally. READ MORE »
