It is hot outside. Hot enough that I have considered just letting the plants in my garden die and the weeds take over. Some of them will come back next year anyway. In the end, I always end up going outside. The silver lining to doing yard work in the furnace that is my backyard is when I come inside drenched in sweat, red in the face with crazy hair, my kids scream and agree to anything to keep their disgusting mother at arms length. Recently, after some post-dinner gardening, I did something unusual. I reached for a glass of wine. Not that me having a glass of wine in the evening is strange, but having a glass of wine after roasting in the southern heat doesn't usually sound appealing. I opened a bottle of 2016 Muga Rosado (rosé). It was surprisingly refreshing! Not only that, but it was like drinking a toast to my victory over the weeds. I hate weeds. Really, really hate weeds.
I am not a frequent rosé drinker, but lately it has been hard to avoid all the hype around this type of wine. Pictures of pink wine are all over social media, wine news and websites. So what is the big deal? Generally speaking*, rosé is made from red wine grapes, and the trick to the beautiful color is in the skins. The grape skins were in contact with the grape juice for a relatively brief period of time. The winemaker can control the color of the wine by manipulating the time the juice is in contact with the grape skins. The longer the contact, the darker the pink/red color of the wine. Just about any red wine grape can be used to make rosé.
So what is good about this particular wine? Not all rosés are created equal. Some are made more as an afterthought. Not Muga. Made in Spain's Rioja region, of which I am a huge fan, grapes destined for red wine are grown on a separate hillside than grapes meant for rosada. Made with garnacha (grenache), viura, and tempranillo (60/30/10%), the grapes are allowed to be in contact with their skins for 12 hours. This gives the wine its nice color. Note that viura (macabeo) is a white wine grape.
Now that I have bored you with all the background info, let me tell you about this particular wine. I don't think the wine maker set out to make a wine for thirsty, heat stroked gardeners, and you certainly don't have be work up a sweat to enjoy it. However, this is a refreshing wine! Think of the soda commercials with people chugging Coke or Pepsi like they had been lost in the dessert for several weeks (and for some reason wanted a coke instead of water), or slow motion drinks pouring and splashing into a glass (sometimes with ice), or a pigeon drinking from a water fountain. Wait, not that last one. Forget the pigeon thing.
Back to the actual wine. This is a dry rosé with a fruity scent. Think apple or apricot. It has a slight tartness to it, but it only adds to the crisp taste (did I mention refreshing?). It has nice hints of citrus, raspberry, cherry, and a bit of minerality. It is a very pleasant wine, and under the circumstances, I was completely surprised how much I enjoyed it. I can't really recommend a food pairing, but I can say it goes very nicely with yard work!
*There are several methods for making rosé including direct press, blending, and saignée. Different regions and winemakers have their own preferred methods.
