The Silk Road of Wine: Think Pink (Rose, that is) for Summertime Entertaining

Rose is a wine that is finally gaining the respect it rightfully deserves in this country. A dry, crisp, higher-acid rose is the ideal partner for summer entertaining, especially if you like to have guests over and offer a series of small plates, tapas-style. Rose surmounts the problem of different levels of meat, seasoning, spiciness, etc., since its acidity pairs well with all sorts of dishes. Equally important as the weather heats up is that rose's acidity refreshes your palate, especially while standing in the sun working the barbeque grill -- try that with a big California cab once and you'll know what I am talking about!

In this vein, the SF Chronicle's wine selections this week feature their favorite imported roses, and , although not technically rose, Eric Asimov posts about blaufränkisch from Austria and Germany. The other night we had a 2005 Cotes de Provence Rose Commanderie de Peyrassol (with an amazing history stretching back to the Knights Templar and the Crusades in case you are interested in true terroir!) which is made from a blend of syrah, grenache, cinsault and a local, ancient grape tibouren. We matched it with a pair of bruschettas from the excellent wine-pairing cookbook The Perfect Match, and the rose's acidity worked equally well with the flavors of both the traditional tuna-cannellini and the nouveau spicy avocado versions. Highly recommended.

Recommended books on wine

Andrea Immer Robinson's excellent teach-yourself course on wine
The other great wine & food pairing book on the market
One of the two best wine & food pairing books on the market
Encylopedic reference tome on all regions and wines. Very educational.
Well-written and very informative.
A great compact reference book -- extremely helpful when trying to decipher wine labels in other languages.
Easily digestible sections for each micro-region in the world. Fantastic maps
The gold standard -- read this cover to cover and you'll know more than most wine shop employees

Great wine shops

Vintage Wine Merchants
More than a destination shop -- you can easily spend the whole day talking with Alex, Joe, Mike, Harry and the gang and learning a ton about fine wine. Santana Row wouldn't be nearly as much fun without their shop!
K&L Wine Merchants
Great selection and newsletter. One of the best-designed wine websites around.
The Wine Club
Some real hard to find gems, good futures prices and a great newsletter.
Joseph George Wines
Think about it -- how many wine shops do you know that are 3rd generation family-owned, provide you the owner's name and phone number on their website (and invite you to call for assistance in selecting wines), and are only open noon-5pm Monday through Friday ...! A sign of how well the shop is doing.
Vin, Vino, Wine Bottle Shop & Tasting Bar
Tucked away on California Ave. in Palo Alto, this is truly a shop for the connoisseur -- not as comprehensive as some of the bigger shops, but they more than make up for it with deep collections of exceptional red and white Burgundies. Their newsletter is required reading each month.

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