Rosé Parade

Ooh, ooh, I was SO THRILLED to read this New York Times article this morning on rosé: "A Rosé Can Bloom in Winter" by Eric Asimov.  Like most people, I too have relegated rosé to the back shelves and cupboards during the winter months.  It just seems so...summery.  


But recently, when I made Crab and Ricotta Manicotti*, I was at a loss for a wine.  Sauvignon Blanc?  Chardonnay?  So I consulted my handy-dandy WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (really, how many more times do I have to tell you about this resource before you'll pick it up?).  And rosé was listed as a match for both crab and ricotta.  My initial thought was an eye roll - I mean, come ON, it's January.  But I didn't have anything else that matched.  So I opened up one of my go-to rosés:

Fresh Direct**.  For under $20 per bottle.  And it went exceptionally well with the manicotti dish, giving it a brightness that it definitely needed.  It was a good foil.


My other favorite rosé is the Carpineto (forgive the glimpse of leg - this was a summer picnic photo):

While the first bottle is gone, thanks to the manicotti and a night with my Soul Twin, I'm still sitting on a Carpineto left over from the summer.  Thanks to the NYT article, I'm more tempted to drink it now, rather than wait until May.  So here are what Karen and Andrew are recommending with rosé that would work for the winter months:

• apertif and/or with canapés, especially dry rosé
• barbecue and barbecue sauce (I definitely do some stovetop grilling in the winter - this could work)
• beef, especially spicier dishes
• charcuterie, especially with dry rosé
• cheese, especially mild (I'm not sure about this one - I tend to go with the meatier, heavier, bluer cheeses in winter.  Good to keep in mind, though, in case I put together a cheese plate)
• cold dishes, especially meat (I wonder if this includes beef carpaccio...dang, I love beef carpaccio...)
• cranberries
• duck 
• eggs and egg dishes (am I the only one that reads this and thinks, "Yay!  Brunch wine!  Wine at 11 a.m. on Sunday!"  Oh...wait...I'm the only one?)
• peanuts and peanut sauces (yummmm...)
• pork, especially grilled or roasted
• quiche, especially with dry rosé (more brunch thoughts...)
• saffron
• sandwiches, especially beef and pork
• sausage, especially grilled
• soup (this is the verbatim listing: "soup".  Based on the other dishes, I'm thinking something seafood-based would be ideal)
• spicy food, especially with fuller-bodied rosé
• turkey, especially roasted 

So fun, right?  And I don't know about all of you, but this is the time of year - damn, February - when the winter doldrums start setting in and this is exactly the sort of thing I need to brighten up the dark days.

Eat, drink, and think outside the seasonal box.

* I should note that, in WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT, they mention that cream sauces should be avoided with rosé.  But it worked with this one.  My somewhat educated guess is that it is because the crab and ricotta were really the dominant flavors, rather than the béchamel sauce.

** I bought many, many bottles of this rosé from Fresh Direct in the summer.  It's not available right now but I'm hoping that it'll come back in a couple months?