Everything’s coming up rosé!
It’s the ‘sip of the season’
As visitors sipped wine under a shade tree on a sunny afternoon, Raechel Kuehn poured a glass of Moscato Rose at Penns Woods Winery in Chadds Ford, smiled and said, “Rosé is kind of having a moment right now. Everyone wants to ‘rosé all day’ and ‘drink pink.’”
Raise a glass! Saturday’s National Rosé Day.
“What I love about rosé is that it is everything refreshing about a white wine. It’s cool. It’s crisp. It’s clean. But it has the heart of a red wine,” added the tasting room and sales manager. “Just because it’s pink doesn’t mean it’s sweet.”
While moscato’s naturally sweet, the winery’s White Merlot and Field Blend Rosé are dry, made from the saignée (bleeding) method.
“We let the skins bleed into the juice, but we don’t leave them in contact,” said Carley Razzi Mack, coowner and marketing director. “And you’re left with these beautiful colors.”
Chaddsford Winery applies the technique to its Artisan Series Dry Rosé, bleeding off “the initial juice that comes out of the fruit.”
“That first 20 percent is the lighter juice that’s being used to make this,” explained Corey Krejcik, vice president and general manager. “It really provides a flavorful, fruit-forward, bright, crisp, dry rosé.”
The remaining “80 percent goes into other bottlings,” he said, producing “more full-bodied” reds.
On the sweet side, Chaddsford’s Sunset Blush is “meant to highlight the Steuben grape” with peach, pink grapefruit, strawberry notes. Try it in cocktails and pink lemonade wine slushies.
Manatawny Creek Winery in Douglassville also bottles a perfectly pink Steuben wine dubbed Rose.
“It’s just a really easy-todrink, middle-of-the-road, pleasing summer sipper. We call it a really good picnic wine,” described winemaker Joanne Levengood. “If you like white zinfandel, you’re going to love this. It’s got a lot of character.”
Pour some in sangria, freeze it for a “frosé” or mix with seltzer for a “light, fizzy drink that cuts down on the sweetness.”
Back at Penns Woods Winery, talk turned to pairings.
“I’m the biggest fan of rosé and grilling,” Mack said. “It’s a very foodfriendly wine” with “different styles of it that fit every palate.”
So, stop and smell the rosé.
“Beginners that are either trying to drink from sweeter to drier or are just getting into wine, this is a really nice starting point.”
Pink Sangria
INGREDIENTS
1 bottle pink wine
¼ to ½ cup sugar, to taste 1 cup ruby red grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed is best)
Sliced fruit INSTRUCTIONS
Combine ingredients in a large pitcher. RECIPE COURTESY OF MANATAWNY CREEK WINERY
Sunset in Paloma
INGREDIENTS
1 ounce Bluebird Distilling Sugarcane Rum
¾ ounce Chaddsford Sunset Blush
1 ounce grapefruit cordial ¾ ounce lime juice Grapefruit peel for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, shake well and double strain into a coupe glass (Champagne saucer). Garnish with grapefruit peel. RECIPE COURTESY OF CHADDSFORD
WINERY
Pink Lemonade Wine Slushies
INGREDIENTS PHOTO COURTESY OF MANATAWNY CREEK WINERY
1 package of frozen lemonade concentrate
1 bottle of Chaddsford Sunset Blush INSTRUCTIONS
Mix in blender and add ice until it reaches preferred consistency.
RECIPE COURTESY OF CHADDSFORD
Sunset Blush WineInfused Cocktail
INGREDIENTS
1 egg white
5 ounces Sunset Blush wine
1 ounce gin
2 sprigs thyme
INSTRUCTIONS
In a cocktail shaker, combine the egg white, Sunset Blush wine, gin and one sprig of thyme. Place the lid on the shaker and shake for about 2 minutes or until the egg white is frothy and thick. Add