Porch wine 2023: Roses

Four roses for summer porch sipping

This is the first of two parts focusing on porch wine — lighter wines, red and white (and of course, rose), that are lower in alcohol and that offer relief from the heat. Today, part I: Roses, and Monday, Part II: reds and whites.

This year’s porch wine installment comes in two parts, since I’ve found – and I know this is difficult to believe – lots of quality cheap wine for porch sitting and drinking. Porch wine, as we have discussed before, is about lighter wines, red, white, and pink, that are lower in alcohol and that offer relief from the heat. The idea with a porch wine is to drink something that won’t make the sweat bead on your forehead.

These four roses are well worth trying:

• Val de Loire Touraine Vive La Liore! Rose NV ($12/1-liter, purchased, 12%): I wanted to dislike this wine for a couple of reasons – it’s a Whole Foods private label and it’s non-vintage, which is not the best way to do rose. So what do I know? It’s nicely done – gamay grape in the blend, so some barely ripe raspberries and a long, biggish sort of finish. Imported by Dropping Wines

• M. Chapoutier Rose Belleruche 2021 ($10, purchased, 13%): This rose from this producer is almost always well-made; the 2021 has held up well — dry, stony, and barely ripe red berries. Imported by Folio Fine Wine Partners

• Moulin de Gassac Guilhem Rose 2021 ($10, purchased, 12.5%): The Guilhem wines, as a reader reminded me recently, are top-notch values. This pink has strawberry and red fruit, is full in the mouth, and quite refreshing. Imported by Polaner Selections

• Calcu Gran Reserva Rose 2022 ($15, sample, 12.5%): Professional pink blend (65 percent malbec, 35 percent petit verdot) from Chile that offers something between Provencal and California. So some berry fruit, but not too much, and a very nice stony finish. Imported by Global Vineyard Importers

More about porch wine:
• Memorial Day and rose 2023
• Update: Porch wine for the long, hot summer
• Wine of the week: Vinho verde 2023

Photo: “Lake Lodge, visitors sitting in rocking chairs on the porch” by YellowstoneNPS is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.