This rosato from southern Italy is absolutely made for antipasti. Its restrained fruit and savory finish make it the perfect partner, neither overpowering nor overmatched, for rich salumi, briny olives, or a few morsels of creamy burrata. If you need a rosé to accompany some proper comestibles, Italian or otherwise, this is the bottle to reach for.

I’m sure most of you are acquainted with the maxim “Integrity is what you do when no one else is watching.” Wine is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when most people hear it but I am reminded of it, in an oblique way, when I learn about a domaine making a wine for reasons that, I suspect, may go beyond just keeping the lights on. Domaine Chevillion’s Nuits-Saint-Georges blanc is a fine example, as is the Chasselas from Pierre Gonon. While not exactly the wines for which these domaines are known, these labors of love are worth seeking out. Château Thivin’s Beaujolais-Villages rosé is another such wine. 
     Rosé comprises only a small fraction of Beaujolais’ total production, and the majority of producers don’t make one. Château Thivin, a venerated estate boasting 140+ years of experience farming some of the most impressive vineyard holdings around Mont Brouilly, is among the few. The Geoffrays lavish as much attention on it as they do on their famous reds, sourcing it from 50-year-old, organically farmed vineyards on steep granite slopes festooned with all manner of cover crops and organic treatments. It’s serious farming in the service of genuine refreshment, elegantly displaying Thivin’s characteristic polish, gentle fruit, and mineral spine. If you top off your glass while no one is watching, I won’t think any less of you.

Do you enjoy a bland rosé, the all-too-common type that sits drab and listless in the glass even when chilled to the point of frostbite? Me neither! Give me a glass of Joguet’s Chinon rosé instead, thank you very much. Cabernet Franc makes a great rosé because its characteristic herbal verve offers a brisk counterpoint to its red berry fruit, creating a thirst-quenching equilibrium that is the raison d’être of any good rosé worth throwing in your shopping cart—refreshment.