It my email box this morning there was a nice note from Amy Lillard, co-proprietor of the soon to be famous La Gramière Côtes du Rhône winery and author of one of my favorite blogs to read, The La Gramière Blog. The ever considerate Amy inquired into my well being due to the curmudgeonly nature of my last several posts. Amy was right and made me think about what had poisoned my keyboard as of late.

The start of this black cloud was easy to spot as it coincided with letting myself slide back into the black hole of a debate Slap. on Robert Parker’s Forum. Its easy to see how immersing yourself in a world where terroir doesn’t matter; where wine quality doesn’t have anything to do with food; where the culture and history of a wine doesn’t mean anything; where wine quality is defined by points and precise rankings - can turn you to the dark side of wine.

There was only one wine antidote: I needed a cool, refreshing bottle of rosé: the ultimate anti-point wine. Unfortunately I was unable to get my hands on the new release of La Gramière, which sounds like it would cure anyone’s blues, but I found another charmer, the 2005 Domaine de Fontsaintes, Gris de Gris, Corbières Rosé. There is something about a really fine rosé that matches food with such harmony that it really brings you back to what wine is all about - how it works at the table. This crisp, brilliant, deeply fruity wine matched with some grilled rockfish in a lightly garlicy chucky tomato broth so well it could only bring a smile to your face. It certainly did to mine.

A warm sunny afternoon, a good bottle of rosé and a great meal. How can you argue about that?

Thanks Amy.

(pictured above, another rare bottle of La Gramière Côtes du Rhône Rosé disappears!)