NYTImes_3Roses1Winery 6/27/07 9:18 PM Page 1

April 23, 2006

Three Roses, One Winery

By HOWARD G. GOLDBERG put Mr. Tracy's three on my white dining room table AS warm weather arrives, rosés spring up like cro- so that the morning sun will turn them neon. cuses on the East End. Not content with parenting My favorite is the cabernet sauvignon. Wonderfully only one new rosé, as many wineries do, the inno- aromatic, almost fleshy, full-bodied, juicy, a bit vative Channing Daughters Winery has produced complex and delivering a long finish, this pink three. drink is delicious — almost gulpable, as rosé enthu- Its cabernet sauvignon version comes from grapes siasts say. farmed at the Mudd Vineyard, and its cabernet franc The pink merlot, like many of its dark-ruby sib- version is from the Coteau Farm Vineyard, both in lings, is soft, round, on the full side and spicy. A day Southold; the merlot version is from the McCall after it was opened its enticing bouquet resembled a Vineyard in Cutchogue. sweet pastry. Though the lipstick hues and culinary purposes of The cabernet franc, coral-and-salmon colored, was these 2005 rosés may seem frivolous, the wines are austere, somewhat steely and tart. A delicate wine artfully made and serious. Tasted side by side at the with distant berry flavors, it is the sharpest appetite- same cool (not icy) temperatures, they show their awakener of the group. differences vividly. Mr. Tracy said the source vineyards were managed In flavor, freshness and application, these $17 or owned by Steve Mudd. The fruit from each rosés are closer to whites than reds. Because some "seemed to beg to be made into rosati: beautiful, Channing Daughters whites are modeled on frisky different expressions of site and grape, texture and counterparts from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a region in flavor," he added. northeastern Italy, the winery calls its new program Incidentally, Jeff Morgan, a former resident of Tre Rosati (Three Rosés). Cutchogue and the author of "Rosé: A Guide to the The winery, in Bridgehampton on the South Fork, World's Most Versatile Wine" (Chronicle Books, labels each version rosato. Its winemaker, James 2005), traces his interest in the subject to Larry Christopher Tracy, a former sommelier and a chef, Perrine, Channing Daughters' president and chief would approve if you poured his rosati, all bone dry, executive. with Italian food. But he encourages their use with Mr. Morgan, who makes SoloRosa rosé in the various fish, shellfish, summer vegetables, goat Napa Valley, writes in the introduction that his cheeses and meat dishes. "New York wine guru," Mr. Perrine, "got me start- The wines range in use from "the raw bar to the ed with barrel-fermented rosé," when both worked grill, from the picnic table to the dinner table," he for the former Gristina Vineyards in Cutchogue — said in an e-mail note. now the Galluccio Family Wineries. Mr. Perrine The shades of pink in rosés give a room charm. I was its founding winemaker.