Sprung Forth
A white, pink and red for warmer weather
The backyard view from my desk has gone from bare tree limbs to light green. And the bunnies have returned to nibble and whatever blades of green grass they can find on my snowburned lawn. It must be spring.
This year spring feels less like a rejuvenation than a reassurance that the world hasn’t gone completly mad and the Earth is still slowly circling the sun. Wine has this effect too. Not just the new vintages that mark time passing forward by replacing the old ones, but each wine’s age itself tracing back to a cluster of fruit that once hung however long ago. Wine goes on.
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WINE RECOMMENDATIONS
Garzón Estate Pinot Rosé de Corte 2024
Price: $17.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Bodega Garzón
Country: Uruguay
Region: Punta del Este
Appellation: Uruguay Wine
Grapes: Pinot Noir (50%), Merlot (30%), Marselan (20%)
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
Sugar Content: 2 grams per litre
I went to the Halpern Premier Cru Portfolio Tasting this week (much more on this to come). There I tasted a 2023 rosé from Louis Jadot made from Pinot Noir grown in Marsannay. It was a kind of Platonic ideal of a Burgundy red turned pink; light and subtle, though deeply cherry fruited. It costs $50.50 a bottle in cases of six. The 2024 Garzón Estate Pinot Rosé de Corte may not be quite as concentrated and finessed, but it a fresh, crisp, easy sipper that also shows subtle notes of cherry. It costs $18 a bottle at the LCBO.
If you’ve had wine from Uruguay outside of South America, then it’s probably been from Bodega Garzón. Garzón is a place by the Atlantic Riviera of that country that attracts well heeled tourists from Argentina and Brazil. The winery was founded in 2016 by the Argentine oil tycoon Alejandro Bulgheroni who brought in the elite Tuscan winemaker Alberto Antonini as oenologo.
Garzón makes fancy wines in a fancy place for fancy people. But they also make some really good entry wines like this very approchable, but bone dry rosé. It’s made in the pale Provençal style that’s fashionable now. It’s worth trying while it lasts (it won’t long), and as good a way as any to toast the warmer weather.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/garz-n-reserva-pinot-noir-ros-c-2020-15265