With so many of us at home due to COVID-19 “shelter in place” policies and practices, I hear there’s been more day drinking going on!

One winemaker says that COVID-19 means “airplane rules” — you don’t judge day drinking in an airport because you have no idea what time zone people are from and what time it feels like to them! What’s breakfast time for you could be time for a night cap for them!

Another friend has been posting pictures of Rosé with the caption “Rosé All May” a play on the popular “Rosé All Day.” With the longer, warmer days of spring, Rose All May sounds about right!

I have to admit, I love all three of these ideas! And I have to admit that I’m particularly fond of enjoying rose with sushi for a late lunch or early happy hour — and I began this trend for myself last summer!

While I enjoy the pink drink all year, I generally I start getting serious about drinking and writing about rose in June when there’s not one but two Rose Days: NATIONAL ROSÉ DAY, observed annually on the second Saturday in June, and INTERNATIONAL ROSÉ DAY on the fourth Friday of June. Plus there’s one in August! For more about how Rose is made, go here.

With social distancing in mind, let’s prepare for 2020’s Rose Days –whenever you decide to celebrate–by looking at three wines from Oregon paired the Rosé with a picnic!

It’s super easy to pick up sushi these days at most grocery stores, as well as a cheese or two: we did port salut but we’re also fans of smoked and goat cheeses with rose. And a bread, toasted or not, that has some dried fruit in it pairs well too. You can buy skewers or prepare them from scratch and grill them yourself at the park or backyard. The couscous salad can be enjoyed warm or cold, and the tangerine salad also works with rose and a picnic; recipes linked to below.

Menu

• Port Salut Cheese
• Brined Olives
• Sue’s raison walnut sourdough bread
• 3 kinds of Sushi from the store
• Tangerine Salad (recipe)
• Acorn Squash cous cous (recipe)
• Seafood Skewers

Oregon Rosé  Wines:
Purchased with an industry discount on a sponsored press trip.
No financial renumeration provided. Opinions my own.

• 2017 Beckham Estate Vineyard Olivia’s Pinot Noir Rosé, Chehelem Mountains
• 2017 Brooks Rosé of Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
  
• 2017 Andrew Rich Vintner Rosé De La Garrigue, Columbia Valley

2017 Beckham Estate Vineyard Olivia’s Pinot Noir Rosé, Chehelem Mountains
12.3% alcohol SRP  $26

Organically dry farmed and grown with maximum care using biodynamic practices, the minimal intervention Beckham wines are native yeast fermented in amphora made by the winemaker, Andrew Beckham, a professional ceramicist and ceramics teacher.

Fermenting wine in clay posts is nothing new– archaeological evidence dates the practice going back 9000 years.

Aged in neutral barrels, the 2019 Rosé uses four clones and is available online for $26 per bottle.

Color: Coppery, salmon.

Nose: Very floral when first opened and poured into the glass, stone fruit, mostly white stone fruit like peach, apricot, nectarine, with bee pollen, honey, sulphuric funk.

Palate: Honeysuckle nectar, sulphuric, volcanic mid palate (we tasted this before reading the label and finding out the “vineyard is dry-farmed and comprised of volcanic Jory and Saum soils”), citrus finish, tangerine. Myr found the wine to taste woodsy.

Pairing: Great with the Port Salute cheese on top of our raisin walnut bread,  with a creamy avocado in a salad, and with grilled shrimp.

Summer couscous salad and BBQ shrimp are a perfect meal with this wine.

Sue thought of ceviche and this wine. I thought of a grilled fish taco plate.

2017 Andrew Rich Vintner Rosé  De La Garrigue Columbia Valley
14.1% alcohol SRP under $20

You may think Oregon is all about Pinot Noir. And if you know anything about wines from the northwest, you likely know the Willamette (Dammit!) Valley is in Oregon and the Columbia Valley in Washington.

But you may not know that the Columbia Valley AVA crosses state lines — the state line between Oregon and Washington made up largely of the Columbia River. There you’ll find Rhone as well as Bordeaux varietals.

Some Oregon winemakers make wine from Columbia Valley WA fruit while others may make wine from Columbia Valley OR fruit; it’s really not that far from this AVA to to winemaking facilities like the Carlton Wine Studio.

Honestly, I’m not sure but I THINK these are grapes from Oregon! I tasted this Andrew Rich wine as well as others at the Carlton Wine Studio in the northern Willamette Valley not far from Portland. Rich has been long fascinated by Rhone wines and worked for five years with Bonny Doon’s Randall Grahm in the Santa Cruz area, Grahm being the original Rhone Ranger himself. This refreshing, rich, and vibrant expression fit into my budget best so I bought a bottle to take home!

This Rosé made from 50% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre, and 33% Syrah is currently unavailable, but other Rhone wines by Andrew Rich can be purchased here.

Color: Translucent blood orange, red orange, very unusual, very pretty.

Nose: Spicy sweet florals, carnation, red candied apple. It did take us a while to get a handle on the nose of this wine.

Palate: Sue noticed a nice mouthfeel right off the bat which is not something we usually think of when tasting rose. Sue found cinnamon spice up front, a bit of pepper spice, almost candied apple up front — fruit but not sweet. Citrus on the back and finish, blood orange.

Pairing: The soft mild Port Salut cheese brought out the florals and the spice in the wine. Kind of like eating an apple pie with cheese. Fantastic with tuna from the grilled skewers: It loves the richness of the fish and brings out a fruitiness in the wine. Seared Ahi tuna has a color similar to the color of the wine and it brings out a strawberry rhubarb quality in the wine. Sue loved her bite of salad with the tangerine, avocado and the salad greens. Really fun salad to accompany this wine. My favorite with the sushi– lots of flavor to match the dynamic flavors of the rolls.

2017 Brooks Rosé of Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
2019 SRP $22; I bought the 2017 on sale on the website for $10

I’m on the Brooks mailing list and when I saw this on sale for around $10, I purchased two bottles as well as two of the white blend and a library wine too — a 2006 Rastaban which we will compare with the 2015 I bought when we visited. Hoping to do a summer pairing feature with Brooks wines soon!

While Brooks is well known for their biodynamic wines, not all of them are certified by Demeter; it’s the Estate wines that are, and this wine comes from non-estate grapes. However, you can count on the grapes being farmed thoughtfully and the wine made meticulously.

Color: Salmon, rose gold

Nose: Florals, dusty rose, sulphur soils. volcanic, black sulphur salt

Palate: Acidity, lush fruit, ripe, tart at the back, up front, raspberry, strawberry-rhubarb pie, watermelon, citrus acidity, sweetness without being sweet.

Vivacious!

Pairing: Port salut cheese offers a nice counterpunch of saltiness to bring out the fruit in the wine. Fantastic with the salmon sushi dipped in soy sauce.

I could drink this all summer with my weekly sushi! Why didn’t I buy more when it was on sale?

By the way, Brooks will be opening up for tasting again on Monday June 1! Read more about Oregon wineries opening up, plus Brooks and four other estate and biodynamic Oregon pinot noir wines here.

Cheers to “Rosé All May” and “Rosé All Day” and Oregon Wine Month! What’s In Your Glass to celebrate?

For Oregon dry farmed chardonnay, check these out! We also wrote about an Oregon’s Coelho here  and we compared six Oregon Chardonnay from three wineries here.

While I’ve written a LOT about Oregon Chardonnay as you can see above, I’ve written even more about rose from these places and with pairings !

For more LOTS more Rose:

• California’s Central Coast here and here
• six from California here,
• South Africa here
• Italy– chiaretto
• comparing from Lodi and France here,
• rose from around the world here,
• from France,
• from Corsica,
• from Provence…