Well, the big day is almost upon me. My big True Rosé tasting is set for this Saturday (June 9th, which happens to also be National Rosé Day) at 1:00. Last year, I billed the tasting as “The Largest Blind Tasting of American True Rosés (Ever)” and to my knowledge, it was (sure, that is a bit selective on the knowledge front, but that seems to be rather in vogue these days).

Last year, we tasted 29 True Rosés (OK, one of them was a saignée), and I published the consensus top wines from the tasting as well as my top fifteen (or so).

This year, the tasting has expanded some (to say the least). I received 45 current releases and to that 20 wines from 2016 (many producers submitted two bottles for the tasting last year and I held onto the second bottle for this year’s tasting). I also have some older vintages (the oldest being 2013) that I am also throwing into the mix.

Why the older vintages? Why not just stick to the current releases? Well, despite popular opinion, rosés, particularly when they are True Rosés, can and do age gracefully. Those (like me) who like a bit of age on their wines (both red and white) would be surprised by how well rosé can evolve in the cellar. When well-made rosés age, the shed a bit of the fruitiness and reveal more secondary vinous qualities like licorice, minerality, salinity, and even gaminess.

While most people would likely argue that rosé is meant to be consumed young, fresh and fruity, I contend while that aspect of rosé is certainly desirable and should be heralded, well-made rosé has so much more to offer. Just as with white and red wines, a bit of patience can often be rewarded with surprising features and considerably more opportunities. Here in Texas, for instance, aged rosé is a remarkable pairing for barbecue since it can take on the aforementioned gaminess aspect.

Thus, with the added complexity of age, the tasters coming this Saturday will not only be asked to evaluate all 68 rosés before them (we will be tasting in flights of five), but they also will be tasked to try to identify the “older” wines. It will be interesting to see how many of those 23 wines are indeed identified as such. There are also 6 1/2 saignées in the group, and I will see if we can identify those, as well.

Most of this year’s lineup.

This year, I plan to publish notes on all the wines, over the course of several posts, as well on the experience itself and the views of the other writers involved. And if you are in the Houston area, there will be a lot of rosé wine left over for sampling and revelry starting around 5:00 or so!

Last Year’s Reveal. I hope the island is big enough for this year….

Here are the wines for this year’s tasting: