Seems like just a few summers ago I showed up at a dinner party with a bottle of pink wine and my hosts were aghast. They remembered the sticky sweet white zinfandels we guzzled in high school and quickly whisked my bottle into the kitchen where it remained stashed behind the paper towels for the duration of the evening. Fools.
Because now, thanks to some good public relations and some really delicious rosés, pink is everyone’s favorite color.
Still, when my neighbor Edith, who is from France, invited me and a few other women over for “aperitifs,” I fretted over what wine to bring. Frankly, the French thing is a little intimidating. I mean they practically invented wine. My first instinct was to buy a rosé from Provence, but then I saw the Elouan rosé with its distinctive vertical label. I am a big fan of wines from Oregon and Elouan’s pinot noir is practically my house wine—so I bought the rosé, iced it down and trotted next door for to join the gals.
The ladies were already in the backyard drinking Aperol spritzers and noshing on hummus, strawberries, and cheese.
I passed on the spritzer, grabbed a wine glass and was immediately grateful for the screwcap. I like a user-friendly wine. The Elouan isn’t just easy to open, it’s easy to like. When the spritzers were drained, I poured glasses for each of the ladies. Denise plopped some ice cubes in hers, Joanne garnished hers with raspberries and Edith, added a splash of seltzer. All delicious. We held our glasses up to the light, we asked Edith what kind of dishwashing liquid she used, we toasted and we sipped.
Pale pink and crisp, it’s perfect for summer evenings (okay, late afternoons) and we found that it pairs particularly well with berries, Trader Joe Thai spring rolls and with juicy neighborhood gossip.
