So long, Summer… Wait! Not yet!

Labor Day has come and gone, the kids are back in school and now everyone is lamenting the passing of Summer.

*sigh*

But wait! The first day of Fall doesn’t officially start until 1:44 PM on Sunday, September 22!

Time to fire up the barbie and break out the rosé vino!  I may be in denial, but Fall doesn’t officially start for me until the cooler days arrive, the sunlight starts turning a golden hue, and the leaves start falling. Autumn is a wonderful season, but let’s not rush things.

Rosé?  Rosato?  Pink?
No worries, it’s all good.

During the Summer and early Fall, Italians set aside their beloved red wines and celebrate sunny days and warm evenings with young, quaffable rosato wines – you know, those pink, dry wines we call rosé here in the States. Italian rosato wines pair perfectly with lighter food fare, like grilled shrimp, roast chicken, cioppino… heck, even a burger tastes better with a good glass of Italian rosé.

Holding onto Summer just a little bit longer.

We’re keeping the Summer vibe going with a rockin’ Nebbiolo-based rosé from way, way up in the craggy mountains of northern Italy.

Hang a left in the northwest corner of Piemonte and you’ll find yourself in Italy’s smallest region, the Valle d’Aosta (pronounced “VAH-lay DOW-stah.”  Come on, you can say it).

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.

You would think that this region is bone-chilling cold, and in the Winter you would be right, but the Summer days are long, hot and dry – and the grapes love it.

Rosé for red wine lovers.

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.  Fortunately, my buddies and groovy Italian wine importers Ernest and Mark at Portovino turned me onto it.

After tasting this “wine from Paradis” with 3 fellow Somms, we were floored – and I bought up everything I could.

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!

Stock up, or miss out.

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.

Recipe:
Grilled Chili-Lime Garlic Shrimp

What says Summer more than shrimp on the barbie?  This is one of my favorite quick-to-fix dinner courses while the weather is still delightfully warm and sunny.

Teresa wrote this up and posted it in the Dall’Uva Forum. I’ll let her take it from here…

Summer’s Last Hurrah:
Chili-Lime Garlic Shrimp

Although summer officially has only a couple of weeks left, the weather here in Portland through September is still beautiful, and back-to-school dinners can be accomplished quite easily on the grill.

One of my favorites is Chili-Lime-Garlic Shrimp kabobs; super-quick and easy for a busy evening. Pair this with a tomato salad, grilled summer veggies and a cold, crisp pink, like Michael’s Larmes du Paradis Rosé.

If you’re using bamboo skewers, begin your prep with soaking the skewers in water…

Get the full recipe here in the Forum:  “Summer’s Last Hurrah: Chili-Lime Garlic Shrimp”