Winey Tasting Notes: 2010 The Crusher Rosé of Pinot Noir

I could also title this review: How I Got Punked By My Mother. So go ahead and take your pick, but either way, I, an intelligent thirty-eighteen year old woman,  pretty much got snookered when I tried to serve The Crusher Rosé of Pinot Noir to my mom.

As you may or may not know from reading a previous post on this blog, my mother likes pink wine. To a fault…only pink…only White Zinfandel. (See Winey Tasting Notes: Mommy Juice White). I did get her to admit liking a Chardonnay, so this time, on her pre-Thanksgiving visit, I decided to be kind to her and get her a pink wine. I thought I was on to something when I saw the 2010 Crusher on sale (normally $16.99..on special for $9.99). Hmm….intriguing. A rosé from pinot noir grapes…might just be the best of both worlds for mom (pink) and me (Pinot Noir grapes).

The Crusher refers to the fun they have at Don Sebastiani & Sons each year when the winemakers join their growers on the happy road from vineyard to the crusher (squish). Kind of a vivid, if not a bit sadistic, picture, huh?

The Rosé of Pinot Noir is 97.5% Pinot Noir and 2.5% Viognier. It has an alcohol content of 13.6% and comes to us from good old Napa (Clarksburg, CA). It really is a lovely, clear pink color. The nose was extremely light – a bit fruity, a bit flowery. OK, I could handle a light nose if the taste came through big time. Well….let’s just say the crusher did its job, not only on the grapes, but on the flavor as well. I was expecting something light and refreshing with fruit and zest and maybe a bit of a body to it. I didn’t get that. At all. Very hard to get any taste, let alone a finish. Yes, there was a little fruit – but they might as well have skipped the Viognier, cause it was undetectable. Watery.

But….given my mother’s prejudice towards fruity and pink wine, there was still some hope here. Just because my taste buds were disappointed didn’t mean hers would be! So, when she asked me if I had any wine open, I proudly displayed the bottle and told her it was a rosé wine. I don’t think she knew what that meant, but it was pink, so she said “Good.”

The evening progressed, next to a roaring fire in the fireplace. Hubby and daughter joined us. My mom was nearest the kitchen, so she would fill our glasses every once in a while. I really wasn’t paying attention. I was getting kind of buzzy though. And then I saw it: her glass had a wine in it that was a totally different color than mine. Hers was…pink. Really pink. Not light pink. But PINK. Whattheheck? And having now noticed that fact, I sort of realized that I was probably on my third (or so) glass of the Crusher. So, being the crack detective that I am, I said “Hey, your wine looks different than mine.”

BUSTED. That’s when she admitted that she really didn’t like the Rosé of Pinot Noir (not sweet enough?) and had switched to her own little travelling stash of White Zinfandel about an hour ago. I jumped up and ran (tottered) into the kitchen to discover only about 2 inches of Crusher left in the bottle. The woman had been sneaking me a wine that I didn’t even like because she didn’t like it either! And she had snuck me quite a bit in the course of an evening. Well.

So, in the end, all I got out of my little experiment to get Mom off the White Zinfandel was a nearly empty bottle and a very big headache (typical of me and sweeter wines) the next morning.

One step forward, two steps back. I will get her off the White Zin someday. Just not by getting myself crushed!

Beware visiting mothers pouring this wine.

Cheers!

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