E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Rosé 2014: Friendly sipper with crisp watermelon, strawberry, some citrus; lovely bright color, dry, medium-light body, fruitiness mixes with good acidity to give this nice edge, particularly on the finish. More sophisticated than a plastic-cups-around-the-pool pour (although it would work there); blend of 60% grenache, 30% cinsault, 10% syrah. Côtes du Rhône (Sides of the Rhône) refers to wineries along the Rhône River in eastern France. Those wineries make about 90% of the wine produced in the Rhône valley; the remainder are world-famous efforts such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Hermitage, and Côte-Rôtie (which achieved its status through the efforts of this maker, Marcel Guigal—son of E. Guigal), making this is an affordable, accessible, maturely delicious rosé from Rhône legend. $15
