Philly Wine Finder

Toad Hollow Pinot Noir Rosé Eye of the Toad 2010

Not buying any wine named after a toad (or a swan, loon, cougar, bear, elk, monkey, llama etc.)  is probably a good idea, but we bought this anyway.  It was not bad for a critter wine, and a good way for impatient wine drinkers to get an early taste of spring.

Still some left at the Society Hill store.

Toad Hollow Pinot Noir Rosé Eye of the Toad 2010
Chairman's Selection^TM
Description from PLCB web site
PLCB Code: 32287
Size: 750ML
Price: $7.99
Compare to prices on wine-searcher.com:  (Avg $9, Min $8, Max $13)
Availability in Pennsylvania:

In Wine & Spirits stores

Region:    USA > California > Sonoma County
Grape Variety:     Pinot Noir
Alcohol Content:    11%

2010 Château Grande Cassagne Costières-de-Nîmes Rosé

Pink fish, pink wine! Mmm love it. Dry but also prominent Jolly Rancher taste. A wonderful rosé from the Southern Rhone. 

We purchased this at the Philadelphia Wine Festival. Only regret is not buying more as there seems to be no more available in the PLCB system. 

 Code: 20349
    * Description: Chateau Grande Cassagne Rosé 2010
    * Size: 750 ML
    * Price: $12.99

PLCB Rosé Beats Moore Brothers Rosé in Blind Tasting

Philly Wine Finder has just returned from one of our out-of-state tasting locations where we did some blind tasting of wines purchased through the PLCB system and compared them to wines purchased out of the PLCB system.

Our first blind tasting consisted of three rosé wines:

2009 Château Vignelaure Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence La Source $13.99 (code 12134 PLCB Store 9113)

2009 Château Revelette Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence Rosé $15.00 special offering reg. $17 (Moore Brothers)

2008 Macari Rosé (North Fork, Long Island)

The PLCB system couldn't be any more different than boutique wine store Moore Brothers.  Moore Brothers boasts of their personal relationships with small-farm artisan winegrowers and their temperature controlled stores and shipping.  Special offers via email come complete with lavish descriptions of the wine and the wine grower written by Greg Moore.  The special offer for the 2009 Château Revelette was one of the more over-the-top descriptions:

"But this polished-copper-in-candlelight dry rosé, with red currants and wild strawberry in the nose, generous red fruit, and precise, deep minerality on the palate is a perfect wine (by which I mean I find it impossible to imagine a better Provence rosé)."

By contrast, the PLCB 2009 Château Vignelaure Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence La Source had no description or marketing at all.  By chance we happened to stumble upon 5 cases on the floor of Store 9113 in mid July. (Curiously (or not?) they now are sold out completely!) 

The third wine, the 2008 Macari Rosé, is from a Long Island winery and made from different grapes than the first two. 

Despite Moore Brothers reputation and superlative write up on the Revelette, a consensus of 8 blind tasters found the PLCB La Source to have a much fuller nose of floral aromatics and a more lively fresh taste.  The Revelette was judged to have a thin nose and to be rather flat. Care was taken so that the wines were at the same temperature.  The final proof was in how much of each wine was left at the end of the tasting. Even the Macari from Long Island beat out the Revelette! 

We're sorry Moore Brothers, we still love you!

 

PLCB Should Offer More Pink!

The selection of dry rosé wines at PLCB stores is disappointing to say the least.  Despite wine critics telling Americans for years that dry rosé is different from white zinfandel (even Gary V thinks rosé is overhyped), PLCB seems to have not gotten the memo.  Rosé wines are rarely featured as Chairman's Selection wines, and there aren't many dry rosés offered besides Mouton Cadet Bordeaux rosé and a few others.  PLCB needs to give us a better selection of dry rosé from the better-known rosé producing areas such as Provence, Tavel, Anjou, Bandol, or Rioja.

We had the Mouton Cadet rosé last night at a barbecue and had low expectations to begin with. The color is a little darker than most rosé.  The Mouton Cadet web site (which has some really snappy tunes by the way) touts raspberry and red currants, but all we could get on the nose was strawberry. The first attack of this wine is surprisingly strong, but after we got used it it was drinkable enough, especially with the grilled chicken and burgers.  Which just goes to show that it doesn't take much for a dry rosé to hit the spot in the summertime.

Still, most people at the barbecue chose white wine or beer over the rosé, which is disappointing. C'mon Philly people, discover the joy of crisp rosé!  C'mon PLCB, give us a bigger selection of pink!