pink rosés

CHARLESAND CHARLESROSÉ ($10) WASHINGTON>

Welcome to the ninth annual Advocate rosé column, where our motto is: If it’s summer and you have $10, you can buy good rosé — and sometimes even get change back.

Surprisingly, despite the weak dollar and the passage of all that time, that price point hasn’t changed in the last decade. There are still dozens of terrific rosés that cost $10 or less from all over the world. The one thing that has changed? The quality of rosé keeps getting better, and it’s unusual to find a poorly made rosé (something that wasn’t necessarily true 10 years ago).

What you need to know about rosé: are mostly red berries (think strawberry or cranberry) or watermelon. They should be served chilled, and they pair pretty much with any food, including beef and barbecue. Rosé was made for Sunday afternoon, sitting on the back porch, rosé in hand and burgers on the grill.

(or white merlot or whatever); rosés are pink wines made with red grapes, and they aren’t sweet. Why are they pink? Because the red grape skins are left in the fermenting grape juice just long enough to color the wine.

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

Look for 2010, and be wary of anything dated before 2009. Rosés are not made to age, and should be fresh and flavorful. The color in older vintages starts to fade, like paper that yellows.

Rosé styles vary by country. Spanish wines are going to be bone dry with less fruit flavor. French rosés are not quite as dry as the Spanish, but they usually don’t have a lot of fruit flavor (and rosé from Provence is among the best in the world). Some U.S. wines are so full of strawberry flavor that they seem sweet, but that’s your taste buds playing a trick on you.

If this is you, please email your resume to Kristy at kgaconnier@advocatemag.com with subject line: resume

The best way to learn about rosé is to taste. My list of recommended rosés is in the dozens, and includes wines from Texas (McPherson), South Africa (Mulderbosch), California (Pedroncelli), France (Cep d’Or), Spain (Cortijo) or Washington state (Charles & Charles).

—JEFF SIEGEL

If this is you, please email your resume to Kristy at kgaconnier@advocatemag.com with subject line: resume

JEFF SIEGEL’SWEEKLYWINE REVIEWS appear every Wednesday on lakehighlands.advocatemag.com