From: Castilla y Léon, Spain
Varietal: Tempranillo
Taste: Lar de Maria’s Tempranillo rosado, with its rich cherry hue, bold red fruit and blood orange aromas reminds us of Tavel rosés we love from France (these are the perfect type of rosés that feel like light reds for the fall and winter). Exuberant raspberry, strawberry and boysenberry notes meet blood orange, mandarin orange zest, and a dusting of savory pepper in the glass and on the palate— those savory flavors more pronounced on the palate, while silky, delicate tannins and red fruits linger on the finish.
Pairing: This gastronomique Tempranillo rosado embraces a hugely versatile style that will stand up to big flavors such as anchovy, olives, garlic, saffron and pimenton. It’s the ideal style to drink with tapenade or a salade Niçoise, a paella or grilled chicken, fish or lamb with herbs. A good wine for barbecues, roasted vegetables, roasted turkey or chicken with gravy plus all the side dishes imaginable, and it’s also enjoyable with rustic pâtés and terrines, other charcuterie, ham and sheep cheese. We’re sharing two recipes below to highlight this versatility; the second, a class-act in roasting poultry, while the first is a 1950s cocktail hour favorite for any time of the year, though we feel it shines brighter during the fall and winter.
Hot Cheese Olives
By Julia Reed
Spice-Rubbed Spatchcocked Chicken
By Melissa Clark
About this wine. Lar de Maía is a family winery producing quality wines in a traditional way, taking care of each part of the process carefully to get the best results. Coming from the wine industry herself, owner/winemaker Maria Burgoa’s journey began in 2010 with a desire to start afresh in the world of wine. She called her project “Lar”, meaning “home”, and “Maía”, the goddess of spring whose name is also given to the month of May, a special time of the year because it is when they bottled their first vintage ever. This bottle comes with a fun tag around the neck of the bottle that you can use for your own tasting notes, and to gain some more info about the wine. Same thing on the label, a tongue in cheek checklist for your own personal notes about the wine.
Grape: Tempranillo 100%
Region: Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León, Spain
Farming: Organic, sustainable, hand harvested, old vines 80-100 years
Winery: Aged on lees for 5 months, weekly bâttonnage, zero additives
The origin of a gastronomic rosé. María Burgoa, founder of the Lar de Maia winery, tells us how it came about: “ One afternoon in August 2015, walking through the vineyard in order to know when we had to start the first sampling of that year's harvest, we decided to make a wine. Gastronomic rosé.
Faithful to our style, that of making subtle, modern wines that invite our consumers to drink, we embark on the production of a very delicate wine from the moment the grapes enter the winery in an early harvest at the beginning of September until the last bottle of the vintage has been sold.
Since the first vintage that we brought to the market in which we produced 2,500 bottles, we have learned to be extremely respectful of the times since the wine must be allowed to be made calmly so that it expresses itself and is appreciated by the consumer's palate.
Today, eight vintages after our first Lar de Maía 8 º Rosado on the market, we can say that we are the No. 1 fans and every year we strive to improve it. ”
