2019-06-01_Market_Watch

36 MARKET WATCH | MARKETWATCHMAG.COM | JUNE 2019

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t Olive & Ivy in Scottsdale, Arizona, the summertime wine list adds

four rosés to the Mediterranean restaurant’s standard offering of two.

Capitalizing on huge demand for rosé wines, particularly in the warmer

months, Mat Snapp delivers a diverse selection designed to appeal to

a broad array of tastes. “It’s ‘which way do you rosé?’,” says Snapp, who

is the beverage director at Fox Restaurant Concepts, the parent company of Olive

& Ivy that operates more than 50 restaurants nationwide under several different

names. “Now that there are so many different expressions of this one category, you

can’t say that rosé is done in a singular way anymore. It used to be all Grenache

from southern France, and would be mineral, light, and acidic. But now, rosé as a

category has many layers and styles.”

Olive & Ivy’s year-round rosés are two Provençal labels: My Essential ($10 a glass;

$40 a 750-ml.), and Domaines Ott ($15; $60). The summer additions include

Provençal offering Château Miraval ($15; $60), along with three California rosés—

Quail Creek Azor rosé ($15; $60), Lucy Santa Lucia Highlands rosé($11; $44), and

Rosehaven rosé ($11; $44). “We used to just put rosé on the menu for spring and

summer, but now we offer it year-round,” Snapp says. “We really broaden the band-

width during the summertime too. You can get a nice glass of rosé, plus a little fun

and education. Maybe you try a splash of each them in a flight. You learn a lot, and

probably go out and buy some more for drinking at home.”

At Cured, a gourmet grocery store and café in Boulder, Colorado, co-founder

and co-owner Will Frischkorn also lists a variety of rosé expressions. “It’s been

amazing to watch this category grow from niche into a significant part of what we

sell every year,” Frischkorn says. “We try to balance staples from Provence—still

the benchmark in the world of rosé—with fun, harder-to-find offerings from around

the world, so we keep our selection rotating every week. On the everyday side of

things, winemaker Bruno Lafon’s Languedoc project, Domaine Magellan, makes

Le Fruit Défendu; for $13, it delivers everything you want in a crisp, cool, patio

pounder. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Scar of the Sea has crafted one of the

most exciting rosés we’ve tasted in years.” The small-production, Pinot-Noir-based

rosé from California’s Santa Maria Valley AVA sells for $30 a 750-ml. at Cured.

All of this enthusiasm for rosé is reflected in the numbers. Leading brands—both

domestic and imported—continue to rack up double-digit increases. For example, ten

Rosé

While France still dominates the category,

other locales are becoming competitive

BY CAROL WARD

Spreads Its Wings