Rosé and Robiola
I’m starting to feel the slight panic that summer is already ending. Even though it’s not even mid-August, we’re planning for the holidays at the Shop, so I feel like it’s basically Thanksgiving. To keep my head in this wonderful season, I’ve been drinking exclusively glasses of cold rosé and eating rosé-friendly cheeses that highlight this summer juice (although that’s a misnomer since rosé should be drunk all year because drinking something sunset pink is always delightful).
This week’s wine blog focuses on a French rosé from Tavel, a region in the southern Rhône that specializes in rosé. Very briefly, rosé from this region tends to be bigger and bolder in body, higher in alcohol, and full of cherry fruit and limestone. Yummy, right?! Obviously I had to take a bottle home, and DOUBLE OBVIOUSLY I had to find the perfect cheese to pair with it! I wanted a cheese that would balance the wine - something rich and without acidity, something that would smooth out the wine’s heat (high alcohol) and benefit from its brightness. Enter Robiola Due Latte, the luscious cow and sheep’s milk blend from Piedmont in northern Italy.
Lo and behold, I ate the cheese and drank the wine and the combo was good. VERY good. I enjoyed it on my porch, of course, enjoying how the hot weather brought out beads of condensation on my glass of chilly rosé, and made the buttery, slightly mushroomy Robiola extra oozy. It was such a summery, delicious moment, I felt lulled back into the comfortable slowness of August.
For the love of cheese and long summers,
Kiri
P.S. I’m behind the rest of the world and just getting to Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Her writing grabs you by the face and says, “Read this!” Read it with me? Click here!