Rosés that won't make you blush

Until lately I would never have been caught dead drinking rosé wine. Sure, I slurped my share of Lancer's and Mateus in college, but that was before I knew better and required what wine blogger Leah Odze Epstein calls wine with training wheels.

As an adult I accepted the adage that the first duty of a fine wine is to be red, so rosé always fell short. It seemed wimpy, lightweight, what Arnold Schwarzenegger might call a "girly" wine. The noted New Zealand vintner Kim Crawford even named his rosé Pansy!

But after a recent visit to Provence, the birthplace of rosé, I've had to change my tune. Rosé wine there is prized, as it is in the rest of France. Ninety-percent of French drinkers readily admit to imbibing it. They drink more rosé than white wine.

So, to update the words of that old song, if 66 million Frenchmen (and women) can't be wrong, especially when it comes to wine, who am I to disagree? After all, even manly Ernest Hemingway was a fan of rosé, specifically what comes from the French wine region of Tavel, where that's all they make.

I came by my jaundiced view of rosé honestly, equating it with the sweet white zinfandel and blush wines reminiscent of cotton candy that were so popular years ago. However, after consulting upon my return from France with Doug Hileman, the Certified Specialist of Wine at Schnucks, my suspicion that I've been clinging to outdated stereotypes was confirmed.

Considered superior to red wine by the Ancient Greeks and still prized highly in France, a glass of rose wine is raised high on a patio in Provence. (TOM HARTE)

Rosé wine, Doug reports, is not only a significant wine that can have every bit as much character as a red, it's gaining popularity in this country too. On a recent visit to California, he found that rosé is all the rage there. Likewise, it's gaining popularity in the Pacific Northwest where truly serious -- dare I say sober -- vintners like Alan Shoup, mastermind of the internationally acclaimed Long Shadows consortium, is now marketing a rosé. The pink stuff is big on the east coast too. New York just hosted a gala wine tasting event devoted entirely to rosé.

No wonder, then, that fellow Missourian Brad Pitt has gone into the rosé business at his $60 million estate in France. His Chateau Miravel is the only rosé to appear on Wine Spectator's list of the world's top 100 wines, making it, theoretically, the best rosé in the world. Having tried a bottle while in Provence, I can tell you it also may be the most expensive rosé in the world, but it is a superior wine no matter what your prejudices or preconceived notions.

The current fascination with rosé wine may well be just deserts, for the beverage has a noble heritage. Provence is the oldest winegrowing region in France, and the first wines produced there, by the ancient Greeks some 26 centuries ago, were essentially rosés, i.e., they were pink. The Greeks actually considered red wines inferior.

As one who treasures a bold cabernet sauvignon or similar wine, I'm happy that red wines eventually caught on, somewhere around the Middle Ages. But I'm just as happy that I have finally discovered the delights of seeing the world through rosé colored glasses.

Rosé-Steamed Mussels

A lineup of serious rose wines from a variety of vintners and counties now in demand and now available at Schnucks. (TOM HARTE)

The best thing to do with rosé wine is to drink it, but in the right dish, as here, in can be an indispensable ingredient. The recipe is adapted from Food & Wine.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 minced cloves of garlic

2 minced shallots

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Doug Hileman, certified wine specialist at Schnucks, shows a variety of rosé wines available at the store, all of which, he says, unlike the so-called “blush” wines of years ago, can be taken seriously. (TOM HARTE ~ photos@semissourian.com)

1 cup rosé wine

6 pounds mussels

3 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat olive oil in a large pot and add the garlic, shallots and crushed red pepper. Cook over low heat until fragrant. Add wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Scrub the mussels and debeard them if necessary and add to the pot. Cover and cook, shaking the pot every now and then, until mussels open, about five minutes. With slotted spoon, remove mussels. Add butter to the cooking liquid, swirl to melt, and season with salt and pepper. Place mussels in serving dishes, pour sauce over, leaving grit in the pan, and garnish with parsley. Serves 6.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.