Chile: rosé / rosado

Loica Pinot Noir Rosé
from leyda.cl

You’d be right in thinking the latter term should be the one on the bottle, coming from a Spanish speaking country, but virtually all of the 15 pink wines below are labelled as rosé. The message from Chilean winemakers, whose rosados I tried at the London International Wine Fair last week, was the same though. Outside of Chile, people don’t really get the Spanish word for rosé (until they see the wine’s colour, presumably!).

Black cats and black grapes

Black grapes refers to a lively little Italian rosé - sorry, Sicilian (oops, there go the kneecaps...): 2010 Nero d'Avola made by Cantine Settesoli. Weighing in at 12.5% alc. and £4.99 a bottle at Tesco, this zingy vs creamy fruity rosé delivers plenty of redcurrant and raspberry with crisp finish; and is fairly versatile as a foodie wine (venison & red onion burgers from M&S, fish & chips, prawn Balti...).

From http://snickrt.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/gato-negro1.jpg

As for black cats, the Gato Negro range from Vina San Pedro in Chile's Central Valley is an all-round crowd-pleaser with attractive, well-made and easy-drinking wines; especially at  Wine Mark / Russell's Cellars in Belfast where you get a '2 for £9' deal. On the red front, try the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon (13.5%) or the quirkier purple-black 2010 Carmenere (13.5%); and for whites, there's a zesty dry grapefruity 2010 Sauvignon Blanc (12%) or peachy citrus-edged 2010 Chardy. And not forgetting their almost delicious creamy red fruity vs crisp 2010 Cab Sauv rosé. Mini-feature on Chilean rosés / rosados here.
More @ gatonegro.cl

Cabardès

Languedoc: Cabardès


Cabardès reds: "...wacky mix of Med, Rhone and Southwest grapes..." (removed and lost by Blogger due to techno issues: if they don't put it back, I'll redo it at some point...)
Or just jump forwards in time a little to the latest report here: 

Languedoc: Cabardès (June 2012).

Loadsa Languedoc

New pieces on 'French Wed Wine', my 'mostly' Roussillon & Languedoc blog:

Faugères focus: "A load of old schist..?" Photo by Bernard VIDAL.
Cabardès reds: "...wacky mix of Med, Rhone and Southwest grapes..." (temporarily removed by Blogger due to techno issues: if they don't put it back, I'll redo it...)
Pézenas: "...claim to fame as one-time hang-out for playwright Molière..."
Saint-Chinian Berlou & Roquebrun: "... who's really getting behind these 'where on earth is that' mini-appellations..?"
Corbières & Boutenac: "...one of those new-fangled Languedoc subzones..." Plus my pick of straight 2010, 2009, 2008 Corbières red, white and rosé: "...hard work... disappointing line-up..."
Limoux: "...lavish whites and fizz..."
Domaine de l'Hortus, Pic Saint Loup

Pic Saint Loup: "... brings out the cynic in me..."

Picpoul de Pinet 2010: "What can I say..?"

La Clape: "...done that 'joke' to death... the whites had real character and class..."

Clos Bagatelle, Saint-Chinian

Domaine La Croix Chaptal, Terrasses du Larzac 

Wine of the mo: Ancien Comté white Grenache 

Saint-Chinian 2010 vintage 

Domaine de Cébène, Faugères

In the pipeline: Minervois Muscats...