Wines and SpiritsAlpha Males and Rose..
One of the terrific things about my job is the diversity of queries we get from clients. They range from ensuring that wines get delivered only on Tuesday afternoons because that day the wife is guaranteed to be at Mah-jong and will explode if "EVEN MORE WINE" is delivered, to cases of wine and champagne being delivered to a female recipient who does not share the matrimonial address of the client...
We had a request recently to procure and deliver a case of a client`s favourite Rose, along with a request that the order not be divulged to any of his mates - we keep parliamentary rules of discretion on them all, but it does underscore what a bad rap Rose generally gets from the average male consumer - it is definitely seen as a "chicks drink".
This is a pity as I reckon that Rose is the right drink for our climate here. All too often at wine and food events, I slug my way through the introductory bubbles and whites - hoping and praying for some emergence of red on the horizon of the dinner table. Rose is a major alternative to what is traditionally seen as the domain of white wines. It has the freshness and coolness of a white wine, but with the body, fruit and sex appeal of a red - the perfect kick-off to an evening - or even the entire evening - as the stuff goes with just about anything you can imagine from a food point of view (unless you are hacking off a raw side of venison).
Rose is not a blend of white and red - it is the crush of various grapes without the juice being left on its skins to glean colour and fruit. You can get alternative styles of Rose from Grenache to Shiraz, Cabernet Roses etc etc - all imparting varying flavours and degrees of structure and body.
Top of my hit parade currently would be the Turkey Flat Rose 2008 - made from a combination of Grenache, Shiraz, Cabernet and Dolcetto. I like it really cold at any time of day - except breakfast - which will probably remain the singular domain of Bloody Mary`s and aspirin...