NV Rozes Terras do GriFo Rose

[slateshalehead]

Pop n' pour, chilled before serving. Some minor sediment in the bottle, lingering towards the bottom of the bottle. Darker orange color than might be expected from a Rosé. Legs quickly run down from the sides of the glass.

On the nose, caramel and toffee nuttiness. On the palate, smooth but not too sweet (which my wife and I thought it might be). Hints of blackberry, again with a nuttiness that lingers slightly.

PS: this is my first tasting note for port, hopefully I've included all the right elements!

[JacobH]

PS: this is my first tasting note for port, hopefully I've included all the right elements!

Absolutely. The nuttiness is interesting: I haven’t had that in a rose port before. I wonder if they are doing any small-barrel maturation.

Incidentally, does the bottle mention Rozès? I get the impression that the parent company, Vranken-Pommery Monopole, (guess what their primary focus is!), has been trying to turn the Quinta do Grifo wines into a new non-Rozès brand (with “Terras do Grifo” being wines not produced entirely from the Quinta), although it’s a bit unclear looking at their websites.

[slateshalehead]

As for the nuttiness, I was also surprised. Along with the color, that makes me agree with you that it might be barrel matured...

The label says Rozes only in small lettering, in the bottling details on the bottom of the front label. If I can figure out how to post an image, I'll take one of the label and post it here.

Interestingly, my wife and I had a hard time finding the bottle, since PA's state-run spirits stores classified it as a standard dessert wine (next to eisweins and madeiras) instead of putting it with the other ports. It seems like they may be trying to market this to non-traditional port drinkers, especially given the label design as well.

[JacobH]

Do you get much Rozès in the USA? The only place I can remember seeing it was in Nicolas (which is one of the biggest chains of wine merchants in France and which has half-a-dozen or so shops in London), so I assumed almost everything was made for the French market.

[slateshalehead]

I can't speak for the rest of the US, since I live in Pennsylvania. Our state-run liquor stores are really dreadful in most ways, since it means that there are only about 30 different bottles total of port that the state allows to be sold in store (plus maybe another 100 that are special order only, which means at 25% markup at least). Two of the in-store offers are Rozes: the Terras do GriFo pink and the 10 YO tawny. But to get either, the nearest store to me is about 25 miles away, meaning I pass about 40 other state liquor stores to get it. The only reason I picked the Terras do GriFo up was because we were near one of the larger stores in our area over the weekend, and the Terras do GriFo is the only pink port for sale in PA. My wife liked the Croft Pink we had at Roeda on our honeymoon, but getting Croft in PA is nearly impossible.

[JacobH]

The only reason I picked the Terras do GriFo up was because we were near one of the larger stores in our area over the weekend, and the Terras do GriFo is the only pink port for sale in PA. My wife liked the Croft Pink we had at Roeda on our honeymoon, but getting Croft in PA is nearly impossible.

Urgh...you have my sympathies. I am very glad I don’t live anywhere like that. I re-tried the Croft Pink for the first time in may years recently and actually think it is pretty good: probably the best of the few rose ports I’ve drunk.