What do you do when your friend delivers you a beautiful, freshly-baked loaf of bread, full of olives, sausage and tomatoes? You immortalize it with a photo before you pair it with a terrific Rosé and devour it!
As the name of this wine denotes, it was made using the Saignée method.
Red wines receive their colour from the skins of black grape varietals through maceration. Maceration is when grapes are pressed and the juice is allowed to sit on the skins. For red wines maceration can last from several days to several months, and it usually extends through the fermentation stage. For the maceration of Rosé wines, the skins are removed before the wine gets too dark. The juice is then fermented and turned into wine. This is called the press method.
Rosés can also be made using a technique called saignée, which is the French word for bleeding. Saignée (pronounced san-yay) is actually a byproduct of red winemaking. During maceration, juice is bled-off in order to create a higher ratio of grape skins to grape juice, resulting in a more concentrated red wine. The juice that is bled off is pink in colour and it is fermented to produce a Rosé wine.
2019 Culmina Saignée Rosé $24.00
The 2019 Culmina Saignée Rosé is a blend of 32% Malbec, 31% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Franc and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine offers aromas of grapefruit, with wafts of cotton candy sweetness, hints of ripe, warm strawberries and crushed gravel. This is a dry, full bodied Rosé, with moderate acidity. The palate is big and creamy, but the flavours are soft and delicate with notes of strawberries and cream, white pepper, grapefruit and hints of watermelon on the the lingering finish.
Culmina is now open for tastings by appointment. For those of us still at home until such time that we can travel safely within the province and the country, Culmina continues to offer complimentary shipping on orders of six bottles or more until the end of June.
This Rosé is available from the winery or you can find it at Marquis Wine Cellar and Everything Wine.