I will tell you right off the bat, I am not a fan of rose’ wines. I find them either a watered down version of the original intent of the grape or so incredibly tart or sweet that my mouth turns inside out. I have never found them a refreshing Summer “picnic” wine like most people. I prefer Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine or a Gin & Tonic. But since it is so Freaking HOT and close to July 4th, I decided to revisit rose’ wines.

As a quick explanation: rose’ is made usually from red grapes that have been lightly pressed not crushed. The color and tannins come from the skin of the grape, so the winemaker does not want a lot of the juice to be in contact with the skins for very long. Also rose’ is best drunk while young (about 1-3 years old) and served chilled.

After seeing an article in the Dallas Morning News about rose’, I chose one from their list and one that I had already written about in my post:  https://loristwistedcork.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/labels-that-made-me-warm-fuzzy/

So the one that I chose from the Dallas Morning news was the 2010 Charles & Charles Syrah Rose’. I love Charles Smith! (www.charlessmithwines.com) He used to manage Rock & Roll bands and now turns out some fantastic wines from Washington state. This particular wine is a joint venture with Charles Bieler who makes rose’ in Provence, France.

The smell: watermelon, strawberry, cilantro. The taste: watermelon, Granny Smith apple, raspberry, strawberry. This wine was so nice to drink as well as look at. The color was like a light pink quartz crystal. I loved the fact that it kept its effervescent quality after being opened for an hour.

The rose’ I previously wrote about was the 2006 Big House Pink from California. (www.bighousewines.com) The label is a hoot! Pink flamingos everywhere! The wine is a blend of Sangiovese, Carignane, Syrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, Mourvedre, & Barbera.

The smell: forest floor almost petroleum, strawberry, raspberry. The taste: forest floor but the red fruits still came through slightly and I tasted a small amount of violets.

I did notice that this wine had changed since last year. The color had gotten darker (orange-brown) and the flavors had gotten earthier. It wasn’t bad but I missed the bright fruit it once had.

I paired these wines with 2 kinds of hot dogs. Both hot dogs were Johnsonville smokey beef brats.

The first dog had Dijon mustard, sweet relish, yellow tomatoes, and purple onions.

The Charles & Charles toned down the tangy sweetness of the relish but made the dog zesty. The wine remained refreshing.

The Big House toned down everything on the dog, but brought out a more earthy quality in the meat. Really not bad.

Second was the hot dog with Wolf Brand Chili, yellow mustard, and melted cheese.

The Charles & Charles made the dog a little spicier but also cleansed the palate from all the smoke, meat and salt. Very nice.

The Big House enhanced the salty quality of the dog but dulled everything else and the dog actually made the wine more mineral tasting. It was o.k.

Over all, both wines were good with the hot dogs but the Charles & Charles was the stand out because of the bright fruit and sparkling quality. Rose’ is sort of supposed to be like a sparkling wine and sometimes it is actually turned into one. But the two I chose have convenient screw tops so you don’t have to worry about explosions in the house, just enjoy the fireworks outside.

Happy 4th of July, Ya’ll!