Wines of the Week

Could spring be coming soon? With all the beautiful days we’ve been having, nothing beats a picnic or just a little outdoor time with your lover, accompanied by a beautiful glass of delicious, ice-cold rosé.

There is still a minor subset of wine lovers who don’t understand or have any appreciation for rosé. That is a shame, because they are missing some of the finest wines made anywhere, usually at criminally low prices. Of course, the good side of that is there is more rosé for the rest of us. This week, we’re going to skip the mammoth range of rosé sparkling wines and stick with still wines. These two wines are the best I’ve tried this year. Both wines are widely available at better wine shops and can easily be ordered. Prices range from $12 every day to $9 when there’s a good sale going on.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is one of Bordeaux’s most famous wines, with prices up around $1200 a bottle. That pricing strategy creates problems for anyone other than hedge-fund managers and Chinese government officials. Lucky for us, Lafite’s owner, Domaines Barons de Rothschild, makes an entire range of wines, including the absolute killer Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé from Chile’s Colchagua Valley. This wine is so spicy and filled with berry aromas that it’s a steal at these prices.

Tuscans love rosés because they are substantial wines that can be chilled to help fight off the hot summers. One of the great wine houses in Italy is Banfi. They also have wines at every price point including one of the wine world’s greatest bargains, Fontana Candida Frascati. Their knockout rosé is Centine Rosé. It’s made from a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese. Centine is a touch softer than the Los Vascos, but also filled with lush berry aromas.