Goth Rosé

Pink is the highest level of goth. If you can make pink goth, you have been granted—no wait, goth powers aren’t granted any more than DOCGs are passed out. If you can make pink goth, you were born with a power. Ergo rosé is the gothest of all. But some rosés will bring you to the dark side better than others. Barely pink, Provençal rosés (Bandol excepted) can bugger off. We want them deep and dark. I think I’ve mentioned (in a column about goth wines) my first wine memories were pink Franzia sipped while sitting in a giant coffin/couch. Which if you aren’t in the mood for rosé, but want to marinate in gloom, you can find here . That was like goth rosé training wheels. Too light in hue to include here. Actually, I wouldn’t include Franzia anywhere but in my memories. Oh! And the one goth rosé I didn’t profile here is cerasuolo . Which sometimes one imagines is a light red and sometimes a dark rosé. Seek it out, and you make the call. And now, a smattering of deep pink wines to delight your craven soul: BANDOL I started with the wine as deep in goth variety (Mourvèdre), as they go. The name just SOUNDS goth. And its confident structure and dark fruit flavors back it all up. 2020 Chateau Pradeaux Bandol A wine both sensual and intellectual. Balanced and complex, it makes you want to cogitate, and then the lovely rhubarb/peach/herbs and allspice flavors make you want to conju…fill in the blank. I love this wine, even if it will only be my lover. ROSADO AND ROSATO Please do not hate me Spain (Rosado) and Italy (Rosato) for grouping you together. You both frequently (but not always) are delightfully dark shades of pink. And you sound alike. The grapes? Different. The spirit? Maybe not exactly the same; they vary region to region within the country. In a way, the irregularity makes them similar. Freewheeling goth rosé. Here’s two of my favorites. 2020 Legado del Moncayo Garnacha Campo de Borja Rosé Grown on the slopes of the extinct Moncayo volcano—does it get grimmer than volcanos? This is on the lighter side of goth rosé, but so is the Cure, and we are still down. Bright red fruit (strawberries, and all iterations thereof) lilt—they LILT—and happy stones kick in. So fresh. 2020 Proprietà Sperino “Rosa del Rosa” Piemonte Rosato Nebbiolo plus Vespolina. Medium salmon color. Wow. It is a journey of a wine. Earthy on the nose—actually I get iris and daffodils, but in situ, not a bouquet, earth clinging on. Body lighter. White pepper to the max. Rosewater finish. Keeps you gong. RHÔNE My first fave goth rosé. You’re likely more familiar with Tavel which, if someone said “you can have one wine for the rest of your life”…well, first I’d try to bargain for one wine for each category (sparkling, white, red, rosé, fortified), and if that was a no-go, I would say Tavel. Its lesser seen neighbor Lirac does stand-up work too! 2020 Cave de Tavel “Cuvée Royale” That look! The juice and the bottle. If the juice went a shade darker, you’d nearly call it light red…it is SO radiant ruby. Gives up ocean freshness, ruby grapefruit, ripe raspberries, and peaches on the nose. All this plus salinity and seaweed and BODY that is at once there but also limber on the palate. It washes over like a wave you’ve caught. 2020 Château de Montfaucon Lirac Rosé What’s gother than being the also-ran southern Rhône region with fabulous rosé? Seriously, Lirac is just north of Tavel—do they get less acclaim because unlike Tavel they also make red and white wine? I don’t know but I do know I adore this Grenache Noir/Mourvèdre/Syrah/Cinsault blend. Ripe white peach and raspberries. Middling acid. It is different than Tavel but has an elegance and ripe-fresh balance all its own. PINOT NOIRS The name COULD say it all, but in the case of the wines I selected, the color does too. 2020 Reichsrat von Buhl “Bone Dry” Spätburgunder Pfalz Rosé Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the gothest of them all? It has to be Reichsrat von Buhl. I mean, “bone dry”. The label. Sure, if I saw this on the supermarket shelf, I’d be inclined to discount it as a gimmick-y bottle, but no this is exquisitely filled with red fruit (raspberry, pomegranate, cherry) and…is it mint? Also red roses. And it’s so German. It gets cold there. Goths get cold and need warming rosés. And this one is that. 2020 Sokol Blosser “Estate” Dundee Hills Rosé of Pinot Noir The color! Nose is like ruby grapefruit waves and just-barely, ripe peach strawberry surfers, and the moon is pulling those grapefruit waves salt-fun tides. The palate has a hint of tannic structure, wet sand under your toes. It all ends on raspberry sunbathers. Was comparing wine to a day at the beach the least goth thing I’ve ever done? OUTLIERS The grapes and regions you don’t think of when you think rosé. Goths are outliers, the Ally Sheedy character in The Breakfast Club, making sandwiches of Cap’n Crunch in the movie, and maybe pouring rosé on the cereal when in the bowl? Maybe not. Anyway, these goth rosés fit neatly nowhere and that just emphasizes their nature. 2020 Domaine Zafeirakis Tirnavos Limniona Rosé Medium-plus, salmon colored goth. Probably the lightest of the bunch. Goth for being old school. Zafeirakis is reviving the grape variety of Limniona, a local-to-Tirnavos variety. Very alive. Very sweet-tart. The prickle on the tongue and the slight umeboshi plum are balanced by a ripe, raspberry vibe. Warming but not boozed out. Slight tannin grip. It isn’t river stones; it is dry pumice. Rough as us goths enjoy. 2020 Umathum “Rosa” Burgenland Rosé The font is goth. “Rosa” isn’t. Lesser-known varieties are. The taste quenches my thirst and tickles my corset. This Blaufrankisch/St. Laurent/Zweigelt blend also gets points for a bottle whose glass was so dark I wondered if I accidentally purchased a red. Brilliant deep pink. Smells so fresh of candied tangerine and something spicy that made me sneeze the way Vernor’s Ginger Ale does, and/or is that cardamom? On the palate it does something of a...I dunno Whack-a-Mole on your palate? Popping up at different places (I get mid-palate then front and sides before the finish) with different sensations (strawberry shortcake! More tangerine! It all was drizzled with white balsamic!) This wine has a lot to say, if only we can get it to voice its ideas outside the notebooks it scribbles in in coffee houses. And finally, I am sure you are all wondering, which of these is a goth rosé shower wine? It must be the Bandol—which while it may seem heavy for a hot shower, combat boots and petticoats are heavy on summer days, and goths make it work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Want to read more from Ellen? Check out her recent articles: From Lalaland to Languedoc Ellen in Lalaland: Return of the Bar Covell Roussillon Ready Hard (Seltzer) Job, Someone Had To Do It Old World vs. New World: Merlot You can also listen to Ellen's podcast , The Wine Situation here . Check out her recent transcripts of the Final Five questions: Wine Situation Final Five! With Beth Burnham Wine Situation Final Five! With Casleah Herwaldt