If Italian food makes your taste buds sing, rejoice in the knowledge that rosé wine does go with this type of cuisine. Jacques Scott Wines & Spirits, in the Cayman Islands, offers a wide variety of rosé options alongside red and white wines, liquors, beers, and other bar needs.
Ranges of Rosé
Rosé ranges in color from the pretty lightest of pinks to a deeper bubblegum pink and even deeper cherry shade. Produced and enjoyed all over the world, rosé can be crafted through any one of four different processes, but the color of the wine always comes from contact made with the skin of red wine grapes, the temperature during fermentation, and the variety of the grape itself.
Four methods of rosé production:
- Direct pressing – the resulting wine is the lightest of pinks because the must is almost immediately separated from the skins for minimal contact and color;
- Brief maceration with skins – the must and skins enjoy a few more hours of contact for a slightly deeper color;
- Prolonged maceration – a longer period of contact between the must and skins results in a deeper-bodied and colored rosé;
- Saignée – winemakers “bleed off” a portion of red wine to make a fuller-bodied, concentrated red wine and then use the removed product to create a rosé.
Creamy, tangy, and spicy foods are served well when paired with dry rosé. The delicate nature of rosé demands light pairings, so heavy tomato sauces, creams, eggs, and overpowering flavors should be avoided.
Many traditional Italian dishes go well with rosé, particularly light pasta dishes, ravioli stuffed with mild cheese like ricotta, fresh seafood dishes, and salad.
Linguine and Clams – serve with Antinori Tormaresca Calafuria Rosato
Prep Time: 20 min; Cook Time: 10 min; Total Time: 30 min
Ingredients:
- 1 lb linguine pasta
- 4 lb fresh clams
- 1 TBSP minced garlic
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 2 TBSP butter
- 2 bunches of Italian parsley
- 2 cups of white wine
- Salt
- lemon
Instructions:
- Clean fresh clams – soak for 20 minutes in heavily salted water, rinse with cold water, and drain.
- Boil heavily salted water and cook linguine for a couple of minutes fewer than on the directions. (You want the pasta slightly undercooked.)
- Melt the butter in the olive oil on medium heat in a large skillet.
- Add the pepper flakes, the minced garlic, and a couple of parsley stems, and cook for about a minute.
- Adjust the heat to a high setting. Add the clams and the wine, cover, and allow the clams to steam for 7 minutes or until the shells open.
- Remove the opened clams, and set them aside for future use, throwing away any clams whose shells failed to separate.
- Take the parsley stems out of the sauce, and allow the sauce to cook, reducing to about half of the current amount. Once reduced, add the linguine and 1 cup of pasta water.
- Toss the pasta in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on high heat, allowing the sauce to thicken.
- Return the clams, add some freshly chopped parsley, and mix.
- To serve, garnish with parsley and lemon on the plate.
Click here to learn more about the Italian food and rosé wine combination that does the most for maximum flavor and meal enhancement from the experts here at Jacques Scott Wines & Spirits.
