It’s time to put a little love in your life!
If you can’t travel to Black Rock City aka Burning Man or the city of Verona — home to one of the most famous love stories of all time, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare– you can put a little love in your life this summer or fall by using your imagination with a little help from Pasqua’s romantic reds, whites, rosatos and Prosecco wines!
equally romantic and delicious…
Shakespeare’s TIMELESS love story about Romeo and Juliet resonates today, and with Verona indelibly associated with it, you won’t be surprised to learn that every day 3,000 or so messages are written on the 20-foot wall of Juliet’s house in Cappello Street.
The label for Pasqua’s Romeo & Juliet wines features an eye-catching photo of that graffitied wall, shot by photographer Giò Martorana, with the PassioneSentimento wine name superimposed.
We paired these inexpensive, excellent valued and beautiful wines from Pasqua with a late summer and fall favorite — make your own pizzas with a gathering of three families poolside at a friend’s home.
As several people in our party are vegetarian or rarely eat meat, the focus was on veggie toppings. Joining me tasting was Sue and her partner John, and our host Judy and her spouse Jay who have a wonderful large granite slab for laying out ingredients and making the pizzas, plus an assortment of kids drank Italian soda and my husband enjoyed Italian beer.
Today check out Pasqua’s Prosecco and Rose, and tomorrow, we have two passimento wines, one red and one white, for #ItalianWFT! Read the invite by host Katarina here.
Pasqua “Romeo & Juliet” Prosecco NV / SRP $16 a bottle
100% Glera grapes from Treviso
On the cap there is a pretty little gold detail that directs you to where to pull off the foil. Around the neck it says Romeo and Juliet’s wall.
Summer love, summer fun!
Color and appearance: Pale pale yellow, very delicate light bubbles that are not that pervasive.
Nose: Fruity, floral, fresh, full of fennel pollen, honey, honeysuckle, white flowers, citrus flowers. It’s more expressive on the nose as it warms, but it is so much better on the palate when cold.
Palate: Really should be served cold, put it in an ice bucket, very dry for how sweet it is on the nose, citrus, lemon/lime on the finish. Nice acidity.
Pairing: Sue felt it was beautiful with an alfredo sauce based pizza. It loves the rich creaminess of the saucy base. This is a great wine for a seafood dish with a creamy sauce. John thought of clam chowder, but what he really wanted was a caprese salad, Sue thought of pasta primavera. Judy did not care for it with the pizza at all, but she is not that fond of fizzy white wine like Prosecco.
THEY SAY: “Romeo & Juliet PassioneSentimento Prosecco Brut, Treviso DOC, $16.00 SRP: The Veneto is famous not only for appassimento wines, but also for sparkling Prosecco. So, it’s not surprising that a Prosecco was added to the Romeo & Juliet line in 2016.”
Pasqua “11 Minutes” Rosé 2018 / SRP $20 a bottle
sample for my review consideration
Color: Super pale millenial pink, the same hue as the label, but translucent.
Nose: Grassy minerals, florals, carnation, baking spices, nectarine.
Palate: Carnation, dry, nice acidity, citrus, tangerine mid palate, nectarine near the pit at the back of the throat. Nice finish. It reminded me of the chiarretto.
Pairing: Goes well with salted olives, I had it with an Italian meatball and was totally satisfied. It has the density and minerality of a red wine and can stand up to a big meat. It was great with tomatoes and salami and very nice with just margarita pizza. I liked it better with the tomato sauce based pizza rather than a pesto based sauce. John wanted fresh raw oysters; we all agreed that it would be a great seafood wine. Very well rounded, it is versatile and would go well with many different meals.
Pasqua 11 Minutes Rosé TreVenezie IGT — $20 SRP
sample for my review consideration
Blend of red and white grapes: 50% Corvina, 25% Trebbiano di Lugana, 15% Syrah, 10% Carmenere
THEY SAY: From vineyards that line the eastern and southern shores of Lake Garda — surely one of Italy’s most romantic destinations — Pasqua’s 11 Minutes Rosé (SRP $20) is an unabashedly romantic wine. Corvina, vinous red star of Northeast Italy’s Veneto region, lies at the heart of the blend (50%), providing a come-hither floral aroma, racy acidity, and captivating, slightly bitter-almond finish. Syrah (15%) delivers spice, a cornucopia of summer berries and fruit in the elegant mid-palate. A long, refreshing finish is thanks to the white Trebbiano di Lugana (25%), while Carmenere (10%) assures stability over time.
According to Pasqua’s winemaker, 11 minutes is the ideal length of time for contact between juice and skins for this rosé. According to the Ancient Roman poet and local hero Catullus, whose family property bordered Lake Garda, 11 minutes is the optimal time for physical contact between lovers. A coincidence? We invite you to draw your own conclusions.
Once the grapes are harvested, production starts with a very delicate pressing, followed by skin contact for 11 minutes. This precious must is then cooled and transferred to a steel tank where it remains for about 11 hours, the time needed for the solid parts to settle on the bottom. After decanting, the must is inoculated with select yeast and fermentation begins. The Pasqua team looks at the fermentation daily to ensure optimal functioning. After fermentation, the wine remains in contact with the lees for 3-4 months, gaining in flavor and complexity. The wine is then filtered and bottled, ready to be sold and enjoyed in the January following harvest.
The striking oval bottle label depicts Lesbia, Catullus’ mistress, to whom he addressed his most famous poem, “Odi et Amo,” (“I hate and I love”).
This couple joins another in the Pasqua portfolio, Romeo & Juliet — inspiration for the Romeo & Juliet Passione e Sentimento red and white blends which you can read about in tomorrow’s post along with other’s in the Italian FWT group about wines, sweet and dry, which use the a passito method requiring the grapes to be dried out.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 