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Can a wine be sexy? Certainly sharing a bottle of wine with a potential love interest can make a sexy pay-off more likely. In February we celebrate Valentine’s Day, so I am looking at some of the romantic pink wines available on the Winetrust100.com site.
Rosé is often thought of as a hot weather wine, something light and unchallenging to swill down on your holiday. It is also considered a lunchtime wine, as if the delightful colour somehow renders it less alcoholic and naughty.
Rosés come in all shades: from tinted blush, to baby pink, strawberry rouge, sunset hues or deepest salmon. Rosé can be flat or sparkling, sweet or sherberty, refreshing or full bodied. In short there is a wide range of tastes and textures within pink wines.
It’s undeniable however that rosé is particularly appropriate on Valentine’s Day both to accompany making a dinner à deux at home or as a gift.
Let’s start with gift wines:
For a pretty bottle and label, try this reasonably priced, only £6, 2012 Pink Moscato, Innocent Bystander, from Australia. It’s slightly sparkling, comes in a half bottle so just the right size to accompany say a little heart shaped box of chocolates.
For a truly sexy label, with a top-hatted striptease silhouette on the bottle, how about this flamingo coloured wine 2013 Burlesque Rosé, White Zinfandel from California. Again a bit of a bargain at £7. Send it with red roses?
The 2012 Rosa Dei Frati, Cà Dei Frati from Italy at £15 comes in a refined pressed glass bottle with a rococo styled label. I had this last weekend with smoked salmon canapés. Almost despite the romantic bottle, this wine bursts with grown up flavours, being full-bodied but at the same time refreshing. I highly recommend this, as a gift or as a drinking wine.
Now if you are really splashing out, order a rosé Champagne such as Charles Heidsieck, Brut Rosé Réserve at £49. This prize winning champagne would be a great Valentine’s Day present for ‘Champagne Charlies’. If serving with dinner, it would sit well with a main course of lobster or a punnet of raspberries dipped in chocolate.
To serve with a romantic dinner, or as an aperitif before going out for dinner:
Slightly cheaper at £25 try this pale pink champagne, Gremillet Rosé D’Assemblage Brut. Serve with the famous pink ‘Biscuits roses’ from Reims, capital of the Champagne region. It is traditional to dip these pink sponge biscuits into Champagne.
If you haven’t tried English Champagne, ahem… sparkling wine, for the word Champagne can only be used for French wines from the region, then pour a glass of Coates and Seely Brut Rosé from Hampshire. It’s dry and fruity, only costs £25, but will surely sweeten up the love of your life. Serve with hot pasta, say tagliatelli, with a cool creme fraiche and smoked salmon sauce stirred through.
A lovely drinking wine, 2013 Pasquiers Grenache Consult Rosé is the colour of lustrous coral, dry but not harsh. Serve with seafood or for dessert, cherries. £6.50p
A fruitier wine at £8.00 is the 2012 Monastrell Rosado, Castano, from Spain. This would match with antipasti dishes of artichoke hearts (reputed, along with asparagus, to be an aphrodisiac) or sanguine red peppers roasted in olive oil and garlic.
So, if you are a gentleman, offer gifts of wine, chocolates, flowers and perfume. But most importantly, and the wine can help with this, talk to her. Wearing your heart on your sleeve is literally the sexiest, most loving thing you can do.
And for those of you (like me) without a Valentine’s date, then buy a bottle or two for yourself, drink it alone or with your pals!
Happy Valentine’s Day
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