It’s the end of the month, and I still haven’t shared the March wine and recipe — AGAIN! I actually chose the wine and food pairing in February. I even tried it out on the club members and guests who attended the spring pick-up party. It’s just been a very busy month. So, let’s not waste any more time. Here is the March wine of the month: the 2017 Sangio Rosé!
Sangiovese Grapes
I usually provide details and flavor profiles about the featured grape. I focused on Sangiovese in the January blog. So, take a peak if you need a refresher. However, it should be noted that the Sangiovese in the Sangio Rosé is grown in the Hill Country at Bella Vista Ranch. This wine has a nice minerality as a result of the limestone soil. What I want to focus on is how the Sangio Rosé is vinted!
The Westcave 2017 Sangio Rosé
This wine has a bright rose color, which surprises guests. They think the wine is a light red. However, winemaker Allan Fetty chose to make this vintage in the traditional French style of making a rosé — saignée. Saignée means to “to bleed.” Saignée wines always boast darker colors, bolder flavors, and stronger tannins. This version of the Sangio Rosé is no different.
The Saignée Process
The purpose of making a saignée-styled rosé is to increase the flavors and tannins in the true red wine. The grapes are harvested at the ideal time of ripeness (sugar and acid in balance). After crushing and destemming, the seeds, skins, and pieces of stems go into a stainless-steel tank with the juice. After 2 days (some winemakers may allow soaking of just 2 hours), Allan pumped off about 30% of the Sangiovese juice and put into a separate tank to ferment. This juice is what “bleeds out” naturally. It is not manipulated in any way, so it is considered the best juice.
So why is the saignée process important? Once the saignée juice is removed, 70% of the juice is left on 100% of the skins, seeds, and stems for the remainder of fermentation process. Thus, the 2017 Sangiovese was a very rich wine.
Isn’t a 2017 Rosé Old?
For a rosé, yes, a 2017 vintage is considered old. But the Sangio Rosé faced a few challenges.
The wine was bottled in the summer of 2019. When Westcave bottles, the wine is filtered, squirted, shaken, and rolled. Allan lets the wine sit for several months to allow any bottle shock symptoms to dissipate. Bottle shock is a condition when aromas and flavors disappear in a wine because it is jostled extensively. (Shipped wines can have bottle shock, too. So, if we ship your wines, please give them a few weeks to settle down before enjoying.) We debuted the Sangio Rosé in the fall of 2019. The Sangio Rosé had flavors of strawberry, cranberries, cloves, and bold, savory tannins. It was delicious!
THEN, we sold the Hamilton Pool property in December, 2019. All the wines, tanks, barrels, cased good, and library wines were sent to three different storage locations. It was a logistics nightmare!!!
When we opened in our new location in Hye, the aromas and flavors of the Sangio Rosé were definitely off. (Was it more bottle shock from the move?) We pulled the wine off the menu, put the cases in a corner, and forgot about them. Well, Allan recently found the wine. Before dumping all the cases, he opened a bottle. The aromas and flavors were better than ever! It has lots of pomegranate, juicy strawberries, and Hill Country minerality with a very long spicy finish. YUM! Come try it!
The Recipe – Pasta Salad with Herb Dressing
With the bold finish on the Sangio Rosé, a paired food has to stand up to it. Spring weather is here, which means picnics and grilling. So, I am sharing one of my favorite pasta salad recipes from the Food & Wine website. Created by Melissa Rubel Jacobson, the only tweak I make is to add wine to the dressing for a little extra zest. And PLEASE use fresh herbs! They intensify the bold, savory notes in the Sangio Rosé.
Cheers!
Margaret | Owner
Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Arugula, Pine Nuts, and Herb Dressing
Servings: 8
1/4 c plus 3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2 c cilantro leaves
1/2 c basil leaves
2 t coarsely chopped oregano leaves
1 garlic clove
1/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T Sangio Rosé ***
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 c baby arugula
1 1/4 c grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- Preheat the oven to 350°. In a pie plate, toast 3 tablespoons of the pine nuts until lightly golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the fusilli until it is al dente. Drain the pasta and rinse it under cold water, then drain again; transfer to a large bowl.
- Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the cilantro with the basil, oregano and garlic and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup of pine nuts and process until smooth. Season the herb dressing with salt and pepper.
- Toss the fusilli with the toasted pine nuts, arugula, tomatoes, red onion and the herb dressing. Season the pasta salad with salt and pepper. Chill.
NOTES
- ***My wine addition.
- If the pasta salad seems dry, mix together a little mayonnaise, olive oil, wine, and lemon juice and stir into the pasta.
