Rosato, rose, rosado is all good anytime of year. We Americans tend to shy away from it because we think it's just for summer, and while it is tricky to make a play for rosato in the dead of winter with piles of snow as high as some homes, here we go!
La Valentina's rosato is no wall flower. It is made from a careful selection of Montepulciano grapes and then goes through 18 hours of skin contact with that selection (look at the color!). After that time, a bleeding of the must and a light fermentation at low controlled temperatures takes place in stainless steel vats. Then a natural stabilization occurs. The wine remains, refining in stainless steel and is bottled mid- January.
Now this rosato, perhaps to add insult to injury, is a 2009. But that's the beauty of longer macerated rose wines. You can have them a year later! This La Valentina's rosato has the characteristic cherry-red color; its clean, intense, persistent nose has hints of rose petals and other flowers and then fruits – cherry, pomegranate and wild strawberries. It is delicately vinous (maybe even tannic?) fresh, fleshy and pleasantly persistent. It has great acidity, and a dry but fruity finish with stray notes of tobacco and liquorice. The best part? This wine doesn't shy away from game, oily fish or even a robust mushroom-y risotto.
And we haven't even worked the Valentine's day angle on you yet.
La Valentina Rosato $16 a bottle
