2011 Muga Rioja Rose

So tonight is an exciting night, a first for the wine blog, a review of a wine that is not red!  It's been so hot lately, today it's 92 and it's supposed to be near 100 degrees this weekend, so it's a little warm to be enjoying a hearty red wine on the patio.  So I thought, there's been a recent surge in popularity of rose wines, so why not jump on the bandwagon and try some?  After all, they can't be any worse than the white zinfandel we used to drink in college!  So last weekend there were a few tastings at local wine merchants, in addition to a virtual tasting on snooth.com, so I picked up a few bottles, including the 2011 Muga Rioja Rose I am enjoying tonight.

This wine was part of the Snooth tasting, and having tried it at G.B. Russo's last weekend I picked up a bottle and chilled it expecting a resumption of the unbearably hot weather we've had so far this summer.  So tonight's the night!  I figure I like Rioja, so that at least gives this wine a head start right?

The wine has a nice blush color in the glass, almost an orange-pink hue.  The nose is quite pleasant with aromas of fresh strawberry and citrus, with just a mild hint of grass.  The wine tastes of bright fruit at the outset, with strawberry and fresh cut melon, quickly giving way to a mild flavor of ruby red grapefruit and fresh herbs with a sharp acidity.  The finish is clean and crisp, with very mild tannins resulting in a very dry, but short finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7, but that's really just a wild guess since I'm so far out of my element on this one!  As for pairings, tonight I am enjoying this wine with some of the last of my wild Copper River Sockeye fillets, grilled on a cedar plank and served with a bit of wild rice and steamed sugar snap peas.  The bright fruit and acidity of this wine really does play nicely against the richness and fattiness of the salmon, making this a very delicious pairing!