Wednesday Wine Tip - 14.02.24

Si Rose by Christian Binner

Feminine power

Wine: Si Rose

Winemaker: Christian Binner

Origin: Alsace, France

Grapes: 50% Gewürztraminer, 50% Pinot Gris

Method: 8 months of maceration with the skins for both grapes and a non-vintage blend from the years 2018, 2019, and 2020.

This week's Wednesday Wine Tip is the Alscatian Si Rose from Christian Binner. This pink-colored orange wine has its feminine glow from its grape blend, but also from the team who made it. It smells of roses, spices, something sweet and something sexy. It's truly an alluring smell, and the taste is more juicy and refreshing than you would ever guess.

The winery discovered some years back that the grapes Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris (both grapes that get a pink/red color on the skins when ripe) reached their limit with traditional winemaking given the global warming that the planet and Alsace as a region have been affected by.

So they looked to other hot countries that have been successfully making wines with powerful grape varieties like Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Georgia. Their secret? Skin maceration of course.

Julie, the wine merchant at the Domaine, was the one with the idea to create a macerated wine with these grapes. She was inspired by her friend Severine Peru who at the time worked at the restaurant, Ten Bells, in New York City (where they had exclusive rights to this wine). The label was created by their favorite graphic designer, Eminé, who knew how to do this wine justice with the design. The name is also a macabre play on words, as the French pronunciation of "Si Rose" is the same as "cirrhosis", hence the liver on the label.

Domaine Binner was established in 1770, owning some of the most valuable growing sites in the area, and producing everything from orange wines to Grand Cru Rieslings. The average vine age is 35 years, with some rows closing in on 100 years of age (meaning high-quality and concentrated grapes). They have been chemical-free for over 35 years, and Christian at the Domaine has worked hard at making it possible for them to produce stable and resilient wines without the use of sulfur.

Jaguar by Victoria Monét

For this week's first combination, I am recommending enjoying Si Rose with the album JAGUAR by the newly (3 time) Grammy-awarded Victoria Monét. If you like this album you should check out her JAGUAR II album as well.

Si Rose exerts a lot of feminine power to me, in the aromas, mouthfeel, and of course the color, but also in the story behind it. You need some sexually suggestive lyrics wrapped in a silky soft voice accompanied by some hip-thrusting R&B beats to match this wine. Victoria Monét brings you all that in the JAGUAR album, setting the scene for whatever the evening might bring you at the bottom of a bottle of Si Rose.

Deep conversations with someone you appreciate

This one might seem obvious, but it's not a given that all wines are made for deep conversations. Some wines take up too much space and focus, making it hard to stay in the moment with someone else. Other wines might be too bland to bring anything to the table.

Deep conversations need a wine that gives you something to talk about, but also makes it easy to just forget that you are drinking it. The perfect sidekick in other words. If you want to have fun with it, discuss the following questions with the person you enjoy Si Rose with:

• Does the smell of this wine bring up any memories? If so, share them.
• What type of candy/dessert does this wine remind you of and why?
• Describe Si Rose as a person, be creative, and feel free to reference real or fictional people.

The Netflix Mini Series "Godless"

How did we go from Alsace, to R&B, to deep conversations, to end up with a western TV show on Netflix? Strong women is the red thread you are looking for. Valentines day might be a gender-free romantic (capitalistic now, Christian originally) celebration of love, but I think we can all agree that it's strongly driven by feminine energy.

So is this show, in the best way possible. If you think feminine only means soft, emotional or sensitive, you need to watch this show to be proven wrong. It's a show made at a time when Netflix was about quality and not quantity, and it's well worth the 7.5 hours of runtime spread over the 7 episodes of this mini series.

Enjoy!