Comme approche de l'été, Rosé . . .

Okay, so this isn't my most brilliant photograph, but it's informative, and that's what I'm aiming for today.  Summer approaches!  (See title in Most Impressive French Translation.)  That means I am thinking of hot summer days and chilled French Rosé.  Sigel's at Lovers & Greenville in Dallas had a French Rosé wine tasting last night, and I marked it on my calendar, gave The Bosses fair warning, and managed to extricate myself from work in time to get there.  No mean feat.  It meant last-minute "wait, send me [X] before you go!" exhortations and navigating through sodden streets after a spring "shower" that dumped 5" of rain and blew with gusts of 65-70 mph all afternoon.  Our downtown office building was literally shaking to the point that we, on the 47th floor, were getting vertigo.  Lights were out en route to my destination, but, dammit, I got there!

It was, of course, worth the trip.  I sampled 10 wines from various regions of France, settled on three favorites, and bought five bottles for a total of $55, which was my ballpark budget for this trip.  And, as always, I learned a few things.

Taste the wine, determine if you like it, and then look at the price -- you may be surprised.  The wine I enjoyed the most was actually one of the cheaper offerings.

I am intrigued by Cabernet Franc, because it is used so often as part of a blended wine instead of on its own.  I've had a few bottles of cab franc and enjoyed its peppery assertiveness, so I was looking forward to trying the cab franc rosé, and I was surprised that I found it disappointing.  The one note was curiously flat in the lighter wine, and since my favorite rosé is a Bordeaux, which is a blend of several grapes, I decided that lighter wines must benefit from blending different types of wine into one glorious symphony of taste.  Which made sense considering which the three wines I ended up purchasing.  You'll see my notes in the photo, if you can read my handwriting!  (Don't worry -- it's already been thoroughly analyzed by Sheila Lowe, Graphologist and Mystery Writer Extraordinaire, and she assures me that I am reasonably well adjusted and not likely to go on a shooting spree after being served a glass of inferior wine.)

Cheers, y'all!