By the time I got home, last night, I was more than ready to kick off my shoes (ironic, as I’d just been to the opening of our local DSW and found the holy grail of show shopping: red tag clearance on Nine West kitten heels) and pour myself a glass of something tasty.

But what would it be? We started our little rosé odyssey in Italy, steam-rolled through California, where would our next stop find us? How about Australia?

Southern Australia, to be exact, to try out Angove’s blend of 70% Grenache and 30& Shiraz rosé. From the bottle notes:

Zesty fruit flavours of red currant and raspberry from the Grenache combine with spicy cherry of the Shiraz to give a refreshing drinking experience. Enjoy this wine with spicy warm chicken salad or your favorite curry.

The red wine drinker’s white wine.

Shiraz is one of those grapes that, for me, tends to be too sweet, but I was hoping–when I picked up this bottle last month–that the majority share of Grenache would make it more my style. The color is a bit deeper than our previous rosés–a darker pink edging towards scarlet instead of salmon. The nose reminds me of white wine all the way–crisp, a little fruity, but light–so imagine my surprise when the taste had the… assertiveness? of a red. There might just be something to that whole red-drinker’s-white claim after all.

Where last week’s white zinfandel just kinda laid there, the Nine Vines stands up for itself, saying “I’m here, what are you gonna do about it, mate?”

To which the logical reply would be simply to take another sip. There areberries, but not overly sweet ones, the beginning of depths but not dark-corner, midnight-of-the-soul depths that a true red would tempt you with, and just a hint of spice in the finish–you know the kind that makes the insides of your lips tingle a bit, like you’ve just been good and kissed?

For supper Todd was making pork with a red pepper sauce, so I thought I’d try this wine out with it and it did very well with an Italian-spiced sauce and whole wheat pasta.

All in all, Angove’s Nine Vines Rosé was not what I was expecting, but in a very good way. If I’m not mistaken, I picked this one up on my if-it’s-pink-I’ll-take-it cruise of the local Cost Plus/World Market, so this bottle is probably less than $10. If I were in a middle kind of mood (don’t necessarily want red OR white), I’d probably pick this one up again.

Even if it is screw-top. 😉