weekday wines – a south african rosé
Our weekend started off on a great note at our local wine shop, the Wine and Cheese Gallery, celebrating their 37th birthday with a fantastic wine dinner. There were some great items on the menu, but my favorite was an asparagus bisque with pancetta and a seared scallop. The two top wines of the night were a Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon and a Turley Zinfandel.
But, I’m not going to tell you about those wines. I’m going to tell you about the $11 bottle we picked up on the way out.
I’ve been trying to learn a bit more about rosé wines, so when we left the dinner Friday night, I asked our friend Wade to recommend something. Wade also happens to be one of the owners of the Wine and Cheese Gallery, so with his at 37+ years of experience, I trust his recommendations. He handed me the 2009 Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé. And for $11, I really had nothing to lose.
I had intended the rosé to be opened one weeknight, but the weekend got a bit crazy after we got home Friday night. My daughter, Madeline, busted her little brother’s lip with a toy – a minor trauma with a lot of blood that nearly sent us all over the edge. Then, an unexpectedly severe thunderstorm cropped up and our house – or somewhere very nearby – was hit by lightning. A powersurge fried our refrigerator, my husband’s desktop computer, and our phone and internet. We spent the weekend dealing with the thawing mess in our fridge and freezer and waiting on cable repair people.
Needless to say, the wine was opened Saturday. I waited until around 6pm, but we were tempted to open it up around 11am that day.
And the wine was really very good. It’s not complicated, this rosé, but that’s what makes it a great wine for drinking before dinner – or with dinner, or after dinner. It was dry with a nice minerality to it, beautiful strawberry pink color, and I tasted berries (strawberry, maybe, or cherry?). For the price, it’s definitely a rosé worth keeping in the fridge. Once the fridge is repaired, that is.
