Great Wine Values: Crios Rosé of Malbec
Robust dry rosé wines like this one from Argentina can provide the perfect solution by delivering enough red wine-like flavor and texture to satisfy, without too much tannic astringency.
For red-wine lovers, summer can be a season of frustration because their favorite wine styles just don't taste right when chilled to beat the heat.
When red wines are iced, the same phenolic compounds that supply their color and flavor (and their antioxidant properties) leave an off-putting sandpapery sensation in the mouth. Robust dry rosé wines like this one from Argentina can provide the perfect solution by delivering enough red-wine-like flavor and texture to satisfy without too much tannic astringency. Because the same phenolic compounds deliver both color and flavor, it's easy to identify the rosés with the most intense flavor profile: those with the deepest color taste boldest every time, as with the vivid bing cherry and black raspberry flavors in this one. Where things get tricky for red-wine drinkers, though, is in finding pink wines that are not just intense, but also dry, as they can vary dramatically in sweetness. Label language can be misleading on this subject, but there is always a clue in the fine print. Alcohol content is always declared, and, though there are exceptions, the higher it is, the drier the wine is likely to be. For example, the sweetest rosés contain barely 10% alcohol, whereas this drier wine clocks in at 14.5%.
Crios Rosé of Malbec, $8.99 (regularly $12.99, Sale price through June 25) PLCB Item #3007