Spanish wine's "tears" produce a balance of fruit and acidity

Spanish wine's "tears" produce a balance of fruit and acidity
2005 Bodegas Julián Chivite Gran Feudo Rosato

Chris Knap
Wine columnistThe Orange County Register

We were talking just a few weeks ago about rosés, the good, the thin and the watery, and I'd promised to find you a few more of the former.
This week's wine, from Spain's hilly Navarra region, is one of the good ones.
Bodegas Julián Chivite is the oldest wine-producing dynasty in Spain, having first made wine in Navarra in the 17th century. Eleven succeeding generations of the family have expanded the winery into Rioja and Ribera del Duero, and it's now one of the most respected producers in Spain.
Today brothers Julián and Fernando Chivite are the manager and winemaker, respectively, with technical help for their high-end wines from Denise Dubourdieu, consultant for Châteaux d´Yquem and Cheval Blanc.
These people are serious about their wine, including this rosato, which makes up one-third of the production from their historic Navarra estate.
Garnacha grapes (known as Grenache here in the U.S.) from the lower mountain area of Navarra are given limited contact with the skins during maceration, then juice is drained from the skins using only gravity, a method known in Spanish as lágrima, or tear.
The wine smells of crushed berries and citrus blossom, and on the palate flavors of raspberry and cherry dominate with a slightly tannic finish reminiscent of Red Zinger tea.
It's a nice balance of fruit and acidity, and has just enough body that it can be poured with almost anything you'd drink with red in the winter: grilled steak, chicken tacos and salmon, just to name a few examples.
And at just 12.5 percent alcohol, you'll be headache free on those hot summer nights.

Origin: The Orange County Register