Father’s Day cometh.
In years past, I cautioned about wine-related Father’s Day gifts that are kitschy, useless, or misguided. Best advice from previous years: give quality wine, don’t pay for it on dad’s credit card.
During this June of peregrination into the realm of rosé, a suggestion that may make you blush.
Treat daddy to a bottle of rosé.
It may be eye-opening. Rosé has appeal beyond coterie of metrosexuals, fops, effete snobs, and flighty womenfolk. That stereotype is so 1990s.
Scott Campbell is a famous tattoo artist. He inks likes of Kanye West and Johnny Depp. He is married to actress Lake Bell. He is a lean, mean, tattooed muscle machine. His favorite wine: rosé. Half the wine made at his Saved Winery is rosé. Why? Because he likes rosé. So did Ernest Hemingway, btw.
Fellow fathers, expand your zone. Taste rosé.
We are not talking about treacly pink plonk, not about white zin. Best rosés are bone dry with depth, balance, elegance. Rosé Champagne and sparkling wines are some of world’s best bubblies.
Bonus: quality rosé usually costs $20 or less, often less than $15. Rosé is best sipped young. Very little winery fuss is needed in the making, which begets bargains.
Father’s—sit by the pool or in the picnic sunshine and share a sip of pink pleasure with your wife and drinking-age kids and friends this weekend. If you must, then follow up with a blood-dripping slab of red meat chased with a massive California cab that Terminator-blasts through your taste receptors leaving oak splinters in its wake. Who knows, when the acrid smoke clears, you may appreciate rosé as the world-class wine it certainly is.
Tasting notes:
• Dark Horse Limited Release Rosé 2015: Bold, crisp, vivid, great acidity. $10
• McPherson Cellars Les Copains Rosé 2015: Crisp, balanced, versatile Texas wine from legendary maker. $13
• Painted Wolf Rosalind Pinotage Rosé 2014: Tasty, fresh, substantial rosé made using South Africa’s signature grape. $13-14
• Becker Vineyards Rosé 2014: Dry, light fruit, strawberry, citrus, melon; a top Texas winery. $20
Last round: Father’s Day toast—“May you live to be so old your best vintage wine is past its prime.”