2017 Schloss Gobelsburg Zweigelt Rosé Domæne

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull 36 Bottles: Q1, 2/10/2019

  (Gobelsburg Rose) Hello friends. Once each quarter this year, we’ll be offering wines from 36 Bottles of Wine, my book that was released last September. We’re going to try to assemble all nine wines from the three months in question, but it won’t always be easy; some categories are only available during certain times of the year. My overarching goal is that we’ve offered all 36 wines at least once by the end of 2019. Also, if you read the book over the holidays and enjoyed it, please consider writing a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It’ll help other like-minded folks discover the title. Thank you! Now, onto the wines (and book). We’ve managed to source eight of the nine wines from Jan/Feb/Mar. The only exception is Grignan-les-Adhemar, which is a category we’ve had success offering in the past. I’ll continue looking for a bottle of Grignan, and in the meantime, I hope those of you who purchased the book will enjoy following along. [Excerpts from the book will be in italics. Copyright 2018 By Paul Zitarelli. All rights reserved. Excerpted from 36 Bottles of Wine by permission of Sasquatch Books.]February other: Last Year’s Rosé. Purchase these Rosés in February and hold them until the warmer weather months, if you like. Or pop a few bottles in the fridge and see if you don’t end up choosing one for a midweek meal. Even in midwinter, Rosé’s food-pairing versatility shines through. A bracing Rosé dazzles with a roast chicken, cutting through butter-and-thyme crisped skin. Or drink it with Saturday French toast; you can upgrade to the fancy Vermont maple syrup with the money you saved on your Rosé.

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Thanksgiving, 10/31/2018

  (Gobelsburg Rose) Hello friends. It’s almost that time of year again—the six straight weeks where you’re forced to eat your weight in roasted birds, imbibe alcohol nightly at countless holiday parties, don ugly sweaters, cut construction paper into various festive shapes, and try to stay sane while listening to your relatives’ hot takes on politics. It all starts in less than a month with the first event: Thanksgiving. Oh Thanksgiving. Take one part thoughtful occasion to step back with friends and family and give thanks for all we hold dear; one part excuse to drink heavily in the company of loved ones; a dash of 3am Black Friday shopping; add a pinch of salt and a half cup of heavy whipping cream; stir. In my household, Thanksgiving was always an excuse for my dad to open magnums of California Zin and my mom to gleefully force every guest to go around the table and share what they were thankful for. While I still follow my family’s examples for expertly crafted turkey and slight emotional coercion, the wine list has changed drastically. You will not find many beefy red wines on my Thanksgiving table. Thanksgiving is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a holiday that calls for affable wines that will help you thrive for 12 hours in the face of well-meaning family members; you need wines that are your friends. So, we have a Thanksgiving six pack of obliging buddies for you this year. All of these wines follow three simple rules to ensure a successful dinner: 1. Moderate alcohol. Remember: marathon, not a sprint. You want to be buzzed enough to hear Uncle Bruce’s opinions about the recent midterms without losing your mind, but you don’t want to be passed out before the cranberry sauce slithers out of the can. 2. High acid. One look at the smorgasbord that is the Thanksgiving table is enough to make a trained wine professional turn to beer. Or whiskey. But no! Said trained wine professional will then remember that the hallmark of a versatile wine is acidity, and if high versatility is needed on Thanksgiving, then high acid is needed on Thanksgiving, enough acid to cleanse that battered palate and prepare it for the next round of culinary abominations. 3. Moderate price. Thanksgiving is, statistically speaking, the most likely day of the year to host someone who will drop an ice cube (or two) into their wine, someone who will mix their wine with Sprite, and/or someone who will mix their red and white to make “moonshine rosé.” This is not the day to bust out the Grand Cru Burgundy; this is the day to seek out values. You won’t see a TPU price above $20 today. Without further ado, here is this year’s six-pack of Thanksgiving wines:February other: Last Year’s Rosé. Purchase these Rosés in February and hold them until the warmer weather months, if you like. Or pop a few bottles in the fridge and see if you don’t end up choosing one for a midweek meal. Even in midwinter, Rosé’s food-pairing versatility shines through. A bracing Rosé dazzles with a roast chicken, cutting through butter-and-thyme crisped skin. Or drink it with Saturday French toast; you can upgrade to the fancy Vermont maple syrup with the money you saved on your Rosé.