Rose Revolution not before time

WINE ... with David Bray

My local Palais de Plonque is pretty big on rose. It tells me it stocks “a huge range of these pink delights, from the bone dry to the sweetest. Over 40 different roses”. There’s a name for what’s happening: The Rose Revolution, some people are calling it, and as could be said of many a revolutionary movement before it, about time too.

Not all revolutions are justified nor are they universally successful. Most of the ones we hear about are – think of the French, Bolshevik and American ones – and this one is well on the way.
I have been keen on this style for years though for most of that time it was less than fashionable. So the hour has apparently arrived. The first time I saw the phrase was a few weeks ago in material from De Bortoli, who tell me the RR is “an educational awareness campaign celebrating purpose-made dry textural rose which has its traditional home in the south of France”. Leanne De Bortoli emphasised “the increasing popularity” of the style not only for the summer months, but all year round as a wine that goes very nicely with so many dishes.
Her company (her husband Steve Webber of chief winemaker) sent for review its latest vintages of three styles of dry rose. You will see Leanne's particular influence in first two names: La Boheme Act Two Dry Pinot Rosé 2011, grown and pressed from a group of Yarra Valley vineyards. It is made from 94 per cent pinot noir with a splash other aromatic varieties. The wine is pale and dry, good summer drinking or as an aperitif all year round. Likely retail price around $20.
Rococo Rosé is from several vintage years and several Yarra Valley vineyards, sparkling and dry, very pale pink, named for a style of 18th Century European art and design, using highly decorative shell like curves and detail. It yields creamy, petal- like aromas, perfumed and complex. A soft, light wine with ripe berry flavours. $22.
Yarra Valley Estate Grown Pinot Noir Rosé 2011 smells of red berries, musk and rose petal and has a smooth, dry palate with texture and structure, low acidity and savoury earthy finish. $22.
And now meet a special girl, Hugh Hamilton’s The Floozie sangiovese rose 2011. The story is that the McLaren Vale winery sets out to make the best rose it can from using only estate-grown fruit, but has no special preference for which variety: “Walking, tasting and observing the best match for each season led us to make The Floozie from tempranillo in 2009, cabernet sauvignon in 2010 and sangiovese in 2011,” Mary Hamilton tells us. She assures us The Floozie has been “road tested with an antipasti of mild Breseola, rocket, fresh fig and buffalo mozzarella, is a good match for bar nibbles and for Atlantic salmon or ocean trout”. Your reporter allowed the bottle to rest, alone and palely loitering in the cooler for a time, then enjoyed it a lot. $22.50.
Also from McLaren Vale, Kangarilla Road Primitivo Rose 2011, a wine whose label describes it as sophisticated (not an adjective usually applied to rose) with aromatic fruit on the palate and a long dry finish. Agree with that. Good wine. $22.
Next, here’s Alta For Elsie rose 2011, from high in the Adelaide Hills. Sarah Fletcher made it and says in her notes that “being sugar dry. It relies heavily on the core flavours of the pinot noir grapes”. A touch of barrel-fermented wine went in to lift the aroma and add creamy complexity to the palate.
Says Sarah: “This wine represents a classic style of rose that has been thriving in European countries for years.” Try it with crispy skinned pork belly, or chilli infused seafood. Around $20.
Another gentle fizz, this time from New Zealand, Toi Toi Marlborough sparkling rose, a very drinkable wine with plenty of fruit sensations. $12.99.
And so to see what the other side of the globe has been doing for so long, to one from Europe, Chateau de Sours Bordeaux rose 2010. The back label carries a quotation (from whom I cannot establish): “Probably the best rose in the world”. Well, it’s made from “ripe and luscious” merlot with a little cabernet franc. I liked it, though more words from the back did not at first provide total optimism: “On the palate it shows (an) enticing register of complex red summer fruit, with hints of bubblegum and mouth-watering strawberries and cream”. Well worth a go at $28.


Marlborough region’s Toi Toi range is worth singing about

Opera-lovers among the oenophiles looking at this column (and I am sure there are plenty of you among the worthy readership of this august publication) will be aware of the frequent mention and/or use of wine on the operatic stage.

And plenty more off it. Pre-performance and interval drinks are a significant part of the theatrical experience. But enough of this diversion. I am here to talk about Toi Toi.
As a long-time opera lover, I must admit I never even heard of this opera expression until recently, during local screenings of the The Met: Live in HD. Diva Renee Fleming often says something that sounded like “Toy, toy, toy!” to a singer who is about to go onstage. When confronted with a mystery, go on line.The Metropolitan Opera Guild’s “Ask the Diva” said La Fleming’s “Toi, toi, toi” is an expression that’s used on an opera stage, “chiefly in Germany”, to wish a singer good luck. So it’s the operatic equivalent of the theatre’s “Break a leg!”
The general opinion as to the source of this expression is that it is a corruption of the German word for devi – “teufel” (pronounced toy-fell). All of which serves to introduce you to a pretty nice wine bearing the name toi toi (lower case all the way).
It’s a New Zealand job, from Marlborough, Brookdale reserve pinot gris 2010. Further diligent research informs us that “Toetoe (commonly misspelt as toitoi) are four species of tall grass native to New Zealand and that the name not surprisingly comes from the Maori language. Toi Toi is the core brand of Marlborough Wine Limited, who tell us that “the image of toi toi swaying in the breeze is highly evocative of New Zealand and our unspoilt natural environment.. . . these wines capture the natural majesty and adaptability of New Zealand’s largest and most graceful native grass and our winemaking philosophy.”
The Toi Toi brand was launched in 2007 with Toi Toi Marlborough sauvignon blanc and now covers a fine range of reds, whites and sparklings drawn from the regions where the particular grapes seem to do best. The one we’ve been sent is, as noted, a pinot gris, which has been for some time one of our favoured varieties.
Like this one a lot. The taste is rich, ripe and intense, showing spice and pear flavours, supported by cleansing acidity. The finish is fresh and lively. There is just a touch of residual sugar there, 2.8gl we are told. Delicious.
The makers suggest it would go particularly well with pork and chicken, salads and spicy dishes. They say try it with poached Asian style chicken broth, with garlic, ginger, star anise, chili and noodles. And toi toi toi to them, too.