Skip to main content
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Toggle Navigation Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Your Cart

The Delicate Side of Winter

The Delicate Side of Winter

by Dustin Soiseth by Dustin Soiseth

Winter Rosé 4-Pack

Winter Rosé 4-Pack

$85.00 $106.95
$85.00 $106.95
$85.00 $106.95
SOLD OUT

Of course, winter’s delights aren’t just from the sea. This time of year my pantry fills up with winter greens and squash from the Riverdog Farms CSA. I sauteé the greens—red mustard, chard, rapini, spinach—in olive oil with lots of garlic, and add a splash of homemade red wine vinegar and pinch of dried red pepper at the end. There’s a bit of heat and pleasing bitter bite that’s perfect with Yves Leccia’s structured rosé from Corsica, which has a bite of its own.


Normally $106.95
SPECIAL SAMPLER PRICE $85.00
(a 20% discount)

This item does not take further discounts

We often associate winter as a season for rich hearty food and wine, and rightly so. But if you’re feeling a bit contrarian, the season also has more than its share of delicate flavors that shine with a dry rosé.
           Winter is when Pacific oysters are at their best, I feel. They’re always so fancily presented at restaurants, but at home I just shuck them over the sink and eat as I go. You’re going to want a rosé with plenty of crisp acidity and minerality to spar with the oyster’s creamy flesh and briny liquor. The Bandol rosé from Domaine de Terrebrune is always the leanest of our Provencal rosés—like a sunny but blustery coastal day—and is my favorite with Marin Miyagis or lovely little Hama Hamas from Washington. It’s also peak Dungeness Crab season all along the Pacific Coast. I bought an inexpensive crab net a few weeks ago and it’s loads of fun, especially for my kids. You just bait it, toss it in, wait a few minutes, then pull it up and see what’s there. I find that the gentle sweetness of crab melds beautifully with the slight creaminess of the rosé from Les Pallières, au petit bonheur. It’s like drinking a Grenache-tinged cloud.
          Of course, winter’s delights aren’t just from the sea. This time of year my pantry fills up with winter greens and squash from the Riverdog Farms CSA. I sauteé the greens—red mustard, chard, rapini, spinach—in olive oil with lots of garlic, and add a splash of homemade red wine vinegar and pinch of dried red pepper at the end. There’s a bit of heat and pleasing bitter bite that’s perfect with Yves Leccia’s structured rosé from Corsica, which has a bite of its own.
          Squash pairs well with rosé for the same reason crab does—the little bit of sweetness. I’ve experimented with cooking acorn and butternut squash in the fireplace this year and it’s worked really well. The outside is charred all to hell, but the insides are soft and well-done, with just a whiff of smokiness. And while you can certainly do red, I like to mix it up and pair it with Tavel rosé from Château de Trinquevedel, which is a bit weightier and has more sunny red fruit than the Pallières, Leccia, or Terrebrune. It stands up to the fuller flavors without overpowering them, bringing a bit of equilibrium to a season that is often overpowering enough as it is.

Sampler Includes:

2017 Bandol Rosé • Domaine de Terrebrune  $34
2017 Vin de France Rosé “au petit bonheur” • Domaine Les Pallières  $25
2017 Patrimonio Rosé • Yves Leccia  $29
2017 Tavel Rosé • Château de Trinquevedel  $18.95

Normally $106.95
SPECIAL SAMPLER PRICE $85.00
(a 20% discount)
Kermit inspecting wine barrels

For the wines that I buy I insist that the winemaker leave them whole, intact. I go into the cellars now and select specific barrels or cuvées, and I request that they be bottled without stripping them with filters or other devices. This means that many of our wines will arrive with a smudge of sediment and will throw a more important deposit as time goes by, It also means the wine will taste better.