If it’s Wednesday (or any day) and you’re having a girls night, you might be looking for something pink. Quite honestly, I love pink wine. While it’s not right for every occasion, rosé is a very diverse category so you can always make a case for it if you really want to. As always: this article is meant for students who are over 21 and live off campus or have some good friends off campus who’s house you hang out at a lot. Drink responsibly kids and let’s get started.
Stella Rosa Pink
Review:
Currently, this wine is on sale for $10 at Kroger (if you haven’t noticed yet, I really love Kroger). This was wonderful news to me since I’ve gone through…several bottles of this since I discovered it over the summer. While rosés are a diverse category, they tend to be more fruit forward, either floral or citrus/acidic. This category is usually much lighter than a red and ranges from relatively dry to super sweet and bubbly. With whites and reds, color tends to indicate the region and characteristics of the wine, however, this isn’t the case with rosé . Good rosé is made from red grapes and the pink color doesn’t necessarily indicate anything about the character of the wine. It varies from vineyard to vineyard, but the color is the result of increasing or limiting the contact of the juice with the red grape skins.
This wine has a lovely pink rose-y color to it. The first thing I noticed was that it smells absolutely wonderful. Stella Pink is heavily sweet and fruity. It has a very floral rose petal flavor mixed with fresh raspberries and strawberries. It’s fun and flirty with light bubbles, but dangerously smooth. You don’t have to be super into wine to love this, making it a really good introduction to the wonderful world of rose.
Preparation:
Heavily sweet and fruity whites and rosé s along with sparkling wines should be chilled before drinking. Since this falls into both categories I would recommend you chill this to between 45-50 degrees, which is just a little bit warmer than your fridge (usually between 40-45 degrees). If you’re in a rush to drink this, a great way to chill wine fast is to place the bottle in a container of ice water, add a pinch of salt (to help lower the water temperature more quickly) and place it in the freezer. You can also wrap the bottle in a wet paper towel and place it in your freezer. Both of these options will chill your wine in less than an hour, but be sure to monitor it closely so it doesn’t get too cold. When you’re dealing with a bubbly bottle, CO2 will aerate your wine very quickly after opening so you only need to uncork this a few minutes before serving.
Serving:
This is a bubbly wine so you’ve got two good options for serving. You could potentially serve this pretty well in a champagne flute, which is perfect for serving all things light and bubbly along with bubbly fruit and wine cocktails. You can also serve this in a standard wine glass which doesn’t have a huge bowl but tapers in slightly at the top. If you’re trying to maximize the stellar aroma of this wine, this would be a good choice.
Pairing:
Rosé tends to fall into a similar category with whites in terms of pairing but can offer a little bit of crossover with reds in terms of pairing with beef, veal, and lamb in some circumstances. This is a very sweet dessert wine. If you’re feeling super fancy, this wine will pair well with a cheese board. For full and delicious contrast, go with some hard and sharp cheeses, some light crackers, and maybe some fig spread (also obtainable at Kroger for $5 or less). This will definitely make you look like a fancy adult who has your life together. You can provide a nice snack for your guests or impress the heck out of your mom when she visits for around $25. You can also drink this with your friends while you marathon New Girl and eat some chicken fajitas, both are awesome combos. Basically, this wine is fantastic, it’s super girly, and it’s on sale right now. Go get it before I clear them out.
Bonus Recommendation:
Stella Pink can be used to make a great cocktail called a Whitney:
1 part light rum (Tidewater Distillery is fantastic)
2 parts Stella Pink
A squeeze of lemon juice
Garnish with a slice of lemon peel and a strawberry
Wine Isn’t Rocket Science translated by Nysa Kline is a great book if you want to know lots more about everything wine from growth to the table. It has lots of pictures. I liked that.