Regan Meador who makes the wines for Southold Farm + Cellar, the winery he and his wife Carey own, doesn’t make rosé.
In an era when just about every winery makes rosé, this isn’t some sort of anti-trend statement. Rather than a rebellion, it’s just pragmatism.
“I’m not crazy about the roses made from the varieties available on Long Island,” he told me.
That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t make a wine that can almost stand in for rosé in most pre- and during-meal settings, though.
Our wine of the week, Southold Farm + Cellars 2015 “I Want to Be Stereotyped” is a cabernet franc made via carbonic maceration — a winemaking technique most often associated with wines from Beaujolais in which whole grapes are fermented in a carbon dioxide-rich environment before being crushed.
In the glass, it almost looks like a darkly colored rosé, something Meador was quick to correct when I asked why he makes this wine, but not a rosé.
“That’s like asking why did you make an omelet instead of a soufflé,” he said. “It’s a profile thing. Does this taste like a rose to you?”
The answer there is, simply, no.
With fruity flavors of strawberry and watermelon, it may sound rosé-like, but that’s where the comparisons end. There is an earthy, almost resinous funky quality here along with great acidity. When I first tasted it, I thought this might be a little too “natural wine” tasting for non-geeks, but I have non-wine friends who have gone wild for this bottle — which is nice for me. I can drink it at their house now that my stash is gone.
It’s available for $22 from the winery’s website.
