The Simple, Albeit Emasculate, Pleasure of Drinking a Rosé

Posted 02/12/2008 at 06:17 AM by Derek

I’m the first to admit that holding the delicate stem of a flute full of rose-colored sparkling wine has a way of making even the most masculine men seem dainty. There’s one sparkling rosé in particular, Elio Perrone’s “Bigarò” from Piedmont, Italy, that I serve to guests at the end of their meal. It concludes a long meal gracefully, but when I’m serving two heterosexual males they inevitably pass a very uneasy glance my way when the pink bubbles pour out of the bottle.

Bigarò is frizzante and relatively low in alcohol (five percent, or about as much as beer). The name “Bigarò” means speckled in a Piemontese dialect and refers to the wine’s reddish hue, which comes from the equal blending of Moscato and Brachetto grapes.

The nose is somewhat floral with a palate of cut tropical fruit, peach and candied rhubarb. The bubbles are only slightly effervescent and the wine can come off a bit simple with more complex desserts. Apart from by itself, my favorite pairing with this wine is with simple fruit-driven desserts and sorbets, although it is pretty damn good with goat cheese as well.

There are some wines that are good because they are profound. They exhibit levels of complexity that allow us to contemplate the depths of their enjoyment and are far from a simple sensual pleasure. They remind us that wine is a higher drink and belongs to a sophisticated class of persons.

Then there are wines that are simply good. Good like candy’s good. They gleefully skip past the first category and remind us that wine should be enjoyed. When I hear some of my wine geek friends—and I engage in the same rhetoric on my own from time to time—discuss why a wine that tastes of tar, pencil lead and dank mushrooms is so appealing, I think to myself that we are perhaps missing the point.

Besides, as dainty as they may seem drinking it, they always love it once drank. Not to mention, the manly redemption comes when they figure out that the winemaker, Stefano Perrone, is a former motocross champion.

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