A Rosé Standing Alone
2010 Valentini Cerasuolo
"Valentini is one of Italy’s most iconic producers." -Antonio Galloni
Last week's 2009 Valentini Trebbiano offer sold out in a matter of hours.
We'll keep this offer on Valentini's 2010 Cerasuolo (his rosé) short - it seems prudent to do so.
Still, Valentini's wines are so original, so shockingly like nothing else that they deserve a few words. If for no other reason, the wines deserve them out of admiration for what Valentini has been able to achieve.
After all Valentini is in Abruzzo, a place that's best known for its insipid bulk wines - crisp and innocuous Trebbianos and simple Montepulcianos that are served as affordable quaffers at pizza places and red sauce joints.
Valentini took these grapes and turned them into powerfully compelling wines that gained a place among the world's best.
We've said it before, but it's worth repeating: these are wines that create their own categories. They are wines that simply stand alone.
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Valentini's Cerasuolo - what they call rosé in Abruzzo - dramatizes this. It's a rosé that has the power and palate presence of a red wine and yet has the sleek mineral spine and freshness of a white wine.
Simply put, it's one of the world's great rosés.
I can't think of another rosé that offers the fascinating textures, complexity and the unique spectrum of fruit, flowers and minerals that Valentini's Cerasuolo does. There's a waxy density to the wine with an evocative interplay of flowers, cherry fruit, citrus skin, honey and something resembling a scorched earth minerality.
Like other serious rosés, think Lopez de Heredia and Chateau Simone, Valentini's Cerasuolo may shine the brightest at the table. It has the weight and power to work as a lovely surrogate for red wine during the hot summer months when drinking red can be downright unappealing.
Also, like the rosés mentioned above, there's no rush to drink this. Holding on to bottles for up to five years after the vintage will allow the minerality to gain prominence and nuances of texture and flavor to be teased out.
As I mentioned earlier, last week's Valentini Trebbiano offer sold out in a matter of hours. His 2010 Cerasuoulo is just as limited - it's currently available at only one other place in the U.S. Please give us your maximum order, and we'll do our best to allocate fairly.
To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits