Charles & Charles Rosé ($10) Washington
This month marks the 11th annual Advocate rosé column where we celebrate pink wine that costs $10, pairs with almost any kind of food you can think of, and — despite what the wine snobs say — isn’t sweet or unpleasant to drink.
In this, rosé is pretty much the perfect cheap wine. That it’s not more popular is a function of its color — it’s too often confused with white zinfandel (or white merlot or whatever), so wine drinkers shy away from it because they think it’s sweet. In fact, most rosés are bone-dry and combine the best qualities of red and white wines.
What should you drink? This will get you started:
• Rene Barbier Mediterranean Rosé ($6). Maybe the best cheap rosé on the market, consistent and varietally correct. This version has a little more fruit (strawberry) than usual.
• Goats do Roam Rosé ($10). This South African wine is very nicely done and a fine value, with flavors of strawberry and cranberry. It’s more like a European rosé — crisper and less fruity — than its New World cousins.
• Charles & Charles Rosé ($10). The quintessential New World-style rosé, with lots of fruit (mostly strawberry), as well as style and structure. One of my favorite rosés every year.
Ask the wine guy
Why is rosé pink?
Rosés are made mostly with red grapes, and they get their color from the skins. The skins are left in the fermenting grape juice just long enough to color the wine and are then removed. Ask the wine guy taste@advocatemag.com
With your wine
The ultimate chicken salad
Forget everything you know about chicken salad. This version doesn’t resemble the mayonnaise glop that most of us are familiar with; instead, it’s a summer dinner for four that doesn’t involve any cooking (save for boiling water). It’s also the ultimate rosé dinner.
Grocery List
1 whole roasted chicken, about 3 ½ to 4 lbs (a roasted grocery store chicken is perfect), cut into pieces
16 oz thin noodles, cooked (Asian soup or rice noodles are good, but any long thin noodle works)
4 c shredded lettuce
Assorted raw salad vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, red onions and radishes
Best-quality vinaigrette
Directions
1. Assemble the salad and vegetables in a large bowl and dress lightly with the vinaigrette.
2. Put a serving-size portion of the lettuce mixture on a plate. Top with a serving of noodles and drizzle the noodles with the vinaigrette.
3. Top the noodles and lettuce with a piece of chicken, and drizzle the chicken with the pan juices if you have them. Otherwise, drizzle with the vinaigrette. Serve.
Serves four, takes about 45 minutes
