Description
Check out this rockin’ Nebbiolo-based rosé from way, way up in the craggy mountains of Valle d’Aosta (pronounced “VAH-lay DOW-stah”) in northern Italy.
Jammed up against the French and Swiss border and welded onto the Alps, Valle d’Aosta is Italian high country where the locals speak both French & Italian (and a bit of the Valdôtain dialect), and make some of the most intriguing high-altitude wines you’ll find.
With vineyards clinging precariously along granite and quartz mountainsides, 20 winemakers in the Donnas sub-region team up to produce bright, minerally wines from nebbiolo, pinot grigio, and a gaggle of other grape varietals you’ll only find in the Valle d’Aosta.
The boys at Caves Cooperatives de Donnas decided to try their hand at making a Nebbiolo-based rosé wine, and their Larmes du Paradis Rosé 2012 is simply stunning. This stuff is so good, very little of this fabulous rosé makes it out of Italy.
After tasting this “wine from Paradis” with 3 fellow Somms, we were floored – and I bought up everything I could.
Larmes du Paradis Rosé is very pink, quite dry and very tasty – with a wonderful floral nose of pink roses and light herbs, juicy strawberries and young cherries on the palate, and a watermelon finish that lingers. With good acidity and reasonable alcohol at 13%, you can enjoy this wine for casual sipping with friends, or paired with the evening’s dinner on the patio.
Paradis Rosé is perfect with roast or fried chicken, grilled shrimp (check out the recipe below) and salmon, pasta with vegetable-based sauces or pork ragu, panzanella salad – and a match made in heaven with a juicy, medium-rare burger with a slice of red onion and fresh tomato from the garden!
We’ve just received a limited number of cases of this beautiful Paradis Rosé to share with you, and they’re waiting patiently in our Napa warehouse for shipment.
If you like red wines, give this a try – you’ll enjoy it. If you like rosé, you’re going love this vino. I’ve stocked up my personal “house wine” stash for Fall meals, and you can too.
Once we’re outta stock of the 2012 Paradis Rosé, you’ll have to wait till next Summer.
