Wines called rosé are typically made by allowing limited contact between red grape skins and grape must immediately after the crush. The process is fairly simple and the resulting wines, if made correctly, offer wine drinkers a versatile and often inexpensive third option when the choice of white or red just won’t do.
Italian rosé, or rosato, first emerged as a popular wine in Puglia where hot weather and plentiful red-wine grapes made the wine a going concern. As wine drinkers warmed to the style, dusty pink and dry with delicate berry and floral aromas, winemakers in other parts of Italy took notice and began to add rosato to their lists of labels.

Today, rosé is made all over the boot from scores of different grape varieties and both the Italian and international markets have embraced the wines. Sales of rosé spike in the summer months of course, as red wine drinkers search for lighter more refreshing choices but here at Vino we like to advise folks to drink rosé year round. Here are three of our favorites.

Negroamaro Rosato, IGT Salento 2009, Bacco, Puglia
$13
From where it all began, the team at Conti Zecca briefly macerates 100% Leverano-grown negroamaro in temperature-controlled stainless steel to produce a light-bodied rosé with fresh floral and strawberry notes and delicate tannins.

Massoferrato Rosato, IGT Toscana 2009, Massoferrato, Toscana
$13
From Vino-owner Nicola Marzovilla’s estate just south of Florence, this charming rosé is made of 100% Sangiovese by Collio expert Fabio Coser. Zesty acidity and medium body make for a robust but balanced rosé that is a great compliment to grilled meats and vegetables.

Lagrein Rosé, Alto Adige DOC 2009, Castel Sallegg, Alto Adige
$18
With its deep color, meaty tannins and herbaceous aromatic profile Lagrein would seem an unlikely candidate for great rosé but we’ve seen plenty and Castel Sallegg’s is one of the best. Firmer than the negroamaro or sangiovese and with more pronounced “red wine” aromas, this sub-Alpine selection holds its own with aged cheeses and heavier meat dishes. A screw cap makes it great for a party or a picnic in the park.

For more information and please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Charles de Gaulle once asked, “How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?” It’s even more difficult to wrap one’s head around the country’s various wines (of which there are over 300 distinct appellations). This class introduces some of France’s best known exports: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Participants will taste representations of these grapes as they manifest themselves in some of their finest growing regions. Participants will learn about basic winemaking techniques, French wine laws and appellations including: Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy, and the Loire and Rhone Valleys.

FRENCH WINES IN A NUTSHELL
with Scott Rosenbaum, DWS
Wednesday, September 15
$45

For more information and reservations please contact 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

A name can be deceiving. For example, if you’ve never tasted “sweetbreads” before, it may be helpful to know that they are neither sweet nor bread, and in fact have little at all to do with such sugary confections. Wine can also have a tendency to slightly confuse. Take the improbably-named Bodegas Juan Gil “Wrongo Dongo” Jumilla Monastrell 2008. When Bodegas Juan Gil decided to attach a funny title and quirky label to their wine, they certainly weren’t the first to engage in this type of bottle marketing. They say never judge a book by its cover, but indeed, names and labels have been shown to have a potential influential effect on the bottom line.

But does this make “Wrongo Dongo” the “wrong” choice? Do not be deceived. Their 100% Monastrell (Mourvèdre) from the arid Jumilla region of south eastern Spain is worthy of consideration beyond its label. The Juan Gil winery has been in the family for four generations, specializing in what is one of Spain’s more exotic native grapes. Situated 700 meters above sea level, the fruit grows at high daytime temperatures and cools down by as much as 77°F at night, promoting the heavy ripening needed while slowing down its natural vigor. The wine, jumping with ripe blackberry fruit and aromatic herbs is remarkably balanced despite its raised alcohol level (15%).

And at $11 a bottle, we at Vino find it particularly appealing, no matter what is written on the label. For a wine with a silly name, “Wrong Dongo” exhibits all the right stuff.

Bodegas Juan Gil “Wrongo Dongo” Jumilla Monastrell 2008
$11

For more information and please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com. Vino is in no way affiliated with HBO or the show Bored to Death.

The family-run Georgakopoulos Estate was founded in 2000 in the area of Mendenitsa in central Greece. Located 7.5 miles from the sea, the village is home to the remains of a beautiful medieval castle. The rolling hills are situated at altitude of 450-600 m (1300-1900 ft) and provide the perfect aspect for ripening the international and indigenous grape varieties grown on the property.

Malagouzia (or Malagousia, depending on who you ask) is a rare Greek grape variety that had almost gone extinct in the mid-20th century. Had it not been for the work of winemaker Vangelis Gerovassiliou and viticulturalist Vassilis Logothetis, the grape would have surely been lost as would the wonderful wines its capable of producing. Vino’s unscientific estimate places the number of estates that cultivate this obscure but delicious wine at less than two dozen. So what’s it taste like? Imagine Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier had a baby. It’s unoaked, ripe and lush. It is a wine a that is every bit as much about texture and weight as flavor.

As you’d expect, you won’t find this wine everywhere. There’s even a dearth of information about it online. Of course, Georgakopoulos Estate does have its own Facebook page. And the good news is that it’s in English.

Georgakopolous Estate Malagouzia 2008
$16

For more information and please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Back by popular demand, Vino will be pouring Gibsons next Thursday. A variation on the classic Martini, this American favorite was named after the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. According to popular legend, Gibson — a teetotaller — would ask barmen to place a pickled onion in cold water so he could pick his drink out from other gin-based martinis. Another story recalls how Gibson challenged the bartender at the Player’s Club in New York to improve upon the original Martini; the bartender simply replaced the existing olive with an onion.

Gibson married Irene Langhorne, whose sister Nancy Astor was the first woman to serve as a member of parliament in the British House of Commons. The elegant Langhorne sisters, born to a once-wealthy Virginia family devastated by the Civil War, are said to have been Gibson’s inspiration for the Gibson Girls. These images of an American feminine ideal, as portrayed in Gibson’s satirical pen and ink stories, became a new national standard for female beauty and independence in the early twentieth-century.

If you’re a latter-day Gibson Girl (or if you know one you can bring along) join us next Thursday!

GIBSON COCKTAIL HOUR
Thursday, September 9
5:30-7:30pm
FREE

Tasting is free; no reservation required. For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or info@vinosite.com.

It may still be pushing the high-nineties in New York, but believe it or not Fall is almost upon us! Vino’s wine and spirit classes return this September with a fresh autumnal schedule. Our selection has gone international and so have our classes: this semester’s tasting seminars are a reflection of our expanding blend of world-class wines and spirits from around the globe. But we’re starting things off with a return to our roots, as next Tuesday we present The Wines of Italy!

Before embarking on our international expansion earlier this year, we spent the best part of a decade dealing in Italian wine. All that tasting, talking and, uh, tasting some more, had to pay off in the end: the result is The Wines of Italy. Hosted by Vino’s resident Italian wine maven Jim Hutchinson, this intrepid tour of the peninsula will take in Italy’s vast mosaic of appellations, countless grape varieties, and myriad countless winemaking styles. Participants will be treated to an exclusive tasting representative of Italian wine’s remarkable quality and diversity, and learn more about the ever-shifting landscape of Italy’s richly entertaining winemaking culture.

THE WINES OF ITALY
with Jim Hutchinson, DWS
Tuesday, September 7
6:30-8:30pm
$45

For more information and reservations please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.


At Vino we love modern technology — without it you wouldn’t be reading this. But in this app-tacular age of tweetations and blogorama, conversely the nostalgia industry continues to grow, particularly within the sector of bars and bartending. But as we prove every week, you don’t need to pull on suspenders and wax your mustache in order to make a proper cocktail. The world has changed irrevocably enough even in our own lifetimes (heck, even Friends is already looking dated). You’ll probably remember a time when the blackberry was a woodland fruit, when birds tweeted but people still spoke to one another and when you had to go to the trouble of actually memorizing your girlfriend’s phone number if you wanted to call her up. So if you miss the clink of a subway token or the crackle of a needle on shellac, this week’s Cocktail Hour is for you. Leave the iPhone at home (we dare you) and join us this Thursday as we make Old Fashioned cocktails the old fashioned way. (There’s no app for that.) And remember: “This year’s fancies/Are just passing fancies…”

Cocktail Hour
OLD FASHIONED
Thursday, September 2
5:30-7:30pm

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please contact 212-725-6526 or email info@vinosite.com.

From You Were Never Lovelier (Columbia Pictures, 1942). Wow, Rita Hayworth sure pops up a lot on this blog! She’s effectively the official mascot of Vino’s Cocktail Hour!

There is perhaps no other grape out there that defines varietal recognition more than Sauvignon Blanc.  Its unmistakable aromatic clarity and zesty acidity have made it a popular choice in all corners of the globe. While regions from the north of Italy to California to New Zealand can boast wonderful expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, it is sometimes nice to fall back on an original standard. Lucien Crochet “Le Chêne” Sancerre 2007 brings out the essence of what you can rarely find anywhere else but in the villages surrounding the town of Sancerre in France’s Loire Valley. Its smoky minerality and bracing acidity remind us of how the marriage of grape and terroir can reach a singularity of focus and excellence.

Lucien and his son Gilles run an operation centered in the town of Bué that has been in the family for centuries. They hand harvest the grapes from the famed limestone hills of the “Clos du Chene Marchand” at very low yields and allow 6 months of yeast contact in stainless steel before filtering and fining.  Malolactic fermentation is always omitted in order for the wine to keep its racy finish intact. The result is an intense display of green fruit, chalky minerality and mouth watering finish; the archetype of pure Sancerre.

With less than 1700 cases of “Le Chêne” produced each year, we think it is certainly worth picking up a bottle of this true classic.

Lucien Crochet “Le Chêne” Sancerre 2007
$32

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Our monthly tasting blow-out returns next week, and this time we’re getting cozy with some not-quite prehistoric selections. Since the dawn of time (well, almost) man has sought good wine to bring back to his cave dwelling (or swanky Manhattan pad). With that in mind we’ve spent what sometimes feels like a billion years roaming the Earth in search of the best this planet has to offer, without rummaging among those fossilized vintages. They may not be quite endangered species, but you should still hurry up and get them before they’re gone forever! Stay tuned for more information on featured wines…

MAMMOTH TASTING
Friday, September 3
5:30-7:30pm
FREE

Tasting is free, no reservation required. For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or email info@vinosite.com.

Ubiquitous and utterly unrelated YouTube clips: