Elizabeth ROSE Pinot Noir Rosé and paella Valenciana

Block House Vineyard, the Pelissa family's source of their Elizabeth ROSE


My favorite wine in the world (by France’s Domaine Tempier) happens to be pink; and I’ll tell you why (whether you want to know or not): It has as much of a stony dryness and deep intensity of flavor as any red wine, but is as soft, round and fragrant as any good, chilled white wines. The best of all possible worlds, if you ask me.

But if you harbor hang-ups about pink or rosé colored wines, my advice to you is: Get over it.  Because if not, you’re likely to miss out on some of the finest wines in the world.

So it was with considerable joy that I was recently turned on another such wine: the 2007 Elizabeth ROSE Pinot Noir Rosé (about $20); vinified 100% from Pinot noir grapes, from a Yountville, Napa Valley vineyard cultivated in 100% certified organic fashion. 

You’ve heard of the possibility of life being a bowl of cherries? This rosé makes life a bushel of strawberries, as flush as it is with strawberry sorbet-like fruitiness in the nose and palate, despite its complete dryness, medium-full body and zesty, mouthwatering acidity; the latter quality extending the brimming fruitiness into a long, dry, silky finish.



I’m not going to recommend a single dish for the Elizabeth ROSE simply because I want to make this salient point: Although classic dry rosés like this make ideal picnic wines (and you’ll find few better!), there are few things this wine probably couldn’t enhance; from chili spiced barbecued meats, Thai shrimp and crawfish etoufée to saffroned seafood paellas, Asian chicken or seared tuna salads, sushi (especially with earthy, saline scented salmon roe and sea urchin), and even San Francisco treats like cioppino or chili specked Dungeness crab.

Or, think a simple serving of sliced charcuterie (especially pork and blood sausages) with herb crusted artisanal chèvres (the contrast of dried herbs bring out the lush strawberry/cherry fruitiness of this wine); or semi-soft cheeses (like Fontina, Havarti and smoked mozzarella) that highlight the Elizabeth ROSE’s silky, rounded qualities.

Since we're on a favorite pink-wine-dish roll, why stop? In perhaps the finest cookbook you may have never heard of, Colman Andrews introduces his Catalan Cuisine with a memorable 96-word paen to the subject:

Catalan cuisine is a caldron full of prawns and monkfish in rich broth on a butane stove in the galley of a fishing boat... it's a brace of rabbits roasting on an open fire pit beside a slate-roofed fieldstone farmhouse... while a silent grandmother with a strong right arm beats olive oil and garlic into a thick aromatic sauce...



And within Catalan Cuisine is my all-time favorite match for a good, dry rosé: a Valencia style shellfish paella (re Colman's version of paella Valenciana)... a recipe every bit as flexible, and vividly defined, as Elizabeth ROSE itself.


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