Five tips for drinking rosé wines this summer

It is summertime, hot, everyone is heading to the beach or prefers relaxing under the shade of a tree. What could be a better drink than a glass of chilly ice-cold rosé wine now? A light and fruity rosé with its lively acidity and charming aromas – may or may not be consumed with carbonated water – is just a perfect choice for the summer.

Nagygombos Winery, specialist in rosé wines, is located at the western border of Mátra wine region, close to Hatvan town, about 60 km from Budapest. This wine region, with its area of 7500 hectares, is the second largest one in Hungary. Climatic endowments of the growing area is mainly determined by the continental climate, as well as by a significant protecting effect of the Mátra mountains: by slowing down cold air coming from north creating more favourable conditions in the southern slopes. It is characterised by diverse soil types like loess, andesite, rhyolite tuff and brown forest soil.

Nagygombos Winery is owned by the Barta Family, and merges traditions and modern technology. Anna Takács-Barta, winemaker, estate manager, definitely believes that both endowments of the estate as well as the grown grape varieties here do favour creating light, fragrant rosé wines. ”I believe that rosé wines should not be bottled too early, our last bottles launched to the market at the end of spring. Due to the relatively long, more than 4 months ageing, our wines are usually characterised by a longer durability, while fruitiness and vivid nature are also kept” – explains Anna Takács-Barta.

Nagygombos Winery makes three different rosé wines: a fresh and vivid Kékfrankos rosé, a fruity rosé cuvée and a real speciality, a Gamay Noir rosé, which is part of the Earl Grassalkovich wine family assortment of the winery. This latter one is a French variety, unique in Hungary, and the special feature of the Gamay Noir rosé wine is that the smaller part received barrel ageing giving spicy elegance to the final product and thus has longer durability than rosé wines in general.

Tips of Anna Takács-Barta, winemaker, for consuming rosé wines:

1. Drink it always cold. The ideal temperature is about 8-10 degrees, since the fresh and fruity notes of the wine can show up the most at this temperature. If colder, aromas of the wine are hidden and cannot be tasted; if warmer, the wine is less refreshing, and any way, who wants to drink a warm rosé?

2. Glass is important. Try to avoid choosing a rosé ”fröccs” (i.e. the Hungarian word for spritzer, namely the mixture of wine and fresh carbonated water) served in a plastic cup on the beach. That could be fine once in a blue moon, but if it is possible, let us take a proper wine glass with a long stem, and grab it by the stem to keep the coldness of the drink.

3. What to eat with a glass of rosé wine? Fortunately, it is quite easy to choose any meal to a rosé, it especially matches well with summer dishes. A mozzarella caprese, an easy-to-make pasta dish, a seafood risotto, pizza or focaccia, cheese, grilled meat or fish are all fine with a rosé, indeed, some sweetie with fruits is the best choice as a dessert. The main point is to be as simple and fast as to open a bottle of rosé.

4. Though it is not easy to be bored with rosé wine in the summer, still, occasionally you can whip it up. Fresh rosé wine is a gorgeous base of the buzzy wine cocktails, so put some lavender or rose syrup to the glass, a couple of berries – raspberry, currant or strawberry –, fill it up with some rosé and carbonated water, then put some ice in the glass, and, if there is in your garden, add some mint or lemon balm leaves as well.

5. It has been for one or two years that rosé fröccs getting trendier, and everybody drinks it on the beach, in ruin pubs or even on elegant events. The most popular types of fröccs are the ”kisfröccs” (translated as ”short” fröccs, which has 1 dl of wine + 1 dl of carbonated water mixed), ”nagyfröccs” (”full” fröccs, 2 dl of wine + 1 dl of carbonated water mixed), and ”hosszúlépés” (”long step” fröccs, 1 dl of wine + 2 dl of carbonated water mixed), but there are other ratios of wine and water as well to try: if you want its taste more vinous, ask ”háziúr” (”landlord” fröccs, 4 dl of wine + 1 dl of carbonated water mixed); football fans should taste the ”magyar–angol” (”Hungarian–English”) fröccs for the memory of the famous game in 1953 of the two national football teams, which has 6 dl of wine + 3 dl of carbonated water mixed; if it is very hot, then ”lakófröccs” (”tenant” fröccs) is the best choice for thirst-quenching (1 dl of wine + 4 dl of carbonated water mixed).

Visit facebook page of Nagygombos Winery for further seasonal tips for rosé wines: www.facebook.com/nagygombosboraszat

Copy editor: bm

Source: wineglass-communication.hu