There’s a fried chicken place in Manhattan called Dirty Bird to Go on 14th that also, surprisingly, houses a natural wine bar called Verre de Terre. This is where I discovered the Amplify Wines “Pink Flag” Rosé of Counoise
My methodology of choosing this wine consisted of seeing three rosés on the bottle list and randomly choosing one that sounded interesting. (Very scientific.) When the Pink Flag arrived I thought, “Cool label.” My other thought was, “Oh, this is all cloudy. Is it going to be super-funky and not in a good way?”
Amplify Wines “Pink Flag Rosé of Counoise (Santa Ynez Valley, CA, 2017)
Well, dear reader, I was wrong. File this pink wine from Amplify Wines under the category/mantra of NO BORING ROSÉ. It had a lot of texture and flavor instead of just being watery, shrill, and non-descript.
I drank it with numerous chicken fingers. Though fried chicken on the bone is superior, the tenders allow you to eat with one hand and drink with the other. Thus, elevating your food and wine pairing experience. (Also, do you call them chicken fingers or tenders?)
I added a squirt of hot sauce to the buttermilk ranch dipping sauce and have to say the Pink Flag handled the heat, crunch, and dairy combo with aplomb. This is a fantastic, versatile rosé with depth and a little heft. Don’t get me wrong, it is still refreshment central.
Perhaps I’d call it a winter-weight rosé? It offers your palate more of an embrace/warm hug rather than an acidic liquid laser.
Let me provide another (endless) reminder to drink rosé year-round and, since it’s the season, alert you to it’s mega-awesomeness with Thanksgiving dinner. Especially if your meal is the traditional 50 Shades of Beige. Nothing like some pink color on the table for a lively, festive contrast.
Update from the winery:
After posting the link on my Wine Without Worry FB page, they gave this nerd-tasting info about how it’s made:
Thank you Jameson! We age roughly half of the wine under flor, while the other half is topped up. It completes ML, and isn’t fined or filtered. All of the above are intended to bring it to the savory side of the spectrum, so it can pair with more umami-heavy foods. We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Flor is a surface yeast key to (a lot of) sherry production. ML=malolactic fermentation and basically turns crazy laser acids more chill.
