Bulgaria is a real paradise for the wine connoisseurs – undiscovered, but very interesting, diversified and adventurous. In the days when we travelled more, we often used to head to Southwestern Bulgaria, along the Struma river valley. Along the Struma highway, near the town of Sandanski, are visible the numerous hills with vineyards. And we love driving to the nearby villages. The panorama reminds of Tuscany but it is still ours, Bulgarian.
During one of these trips we visited Zlaten Rozhen winery and met their product director Federico Ricci. We often talk about him but we are fans. He was standing by a bottle of rose wine, placed in a glass bowl with soil from the vineyards where the grapes for the wine grow. He explained us in details about the soil, the terroir, the climate. We won’t be telling you about all the details but we will tell you about this very wine.
Currently, we are based in central Bulgaria, but this does not stop us ordering wine from everywhere. And because we like this wonderful rose of Zlaten Rozhen, we did not hesitate to add a few more bottles to our shelf.
Rosaspina 2018 – rose wine from sangiovese
Rosaspina is an amazing rose wine from 100 % sangiovese. Sangiovese is Italian grape variety, popular across Tuscany, but not only. It is an old variery, known since Roman times. And despite it is a typical variety for Tuscany, it develops pretty well in the Sandanski-Petrich valley. Every time I drink wine I start to think about geography and travelling and this is another wonderful thing that makes me love wine.
Colour: we opened the bottle on sunset, which intensified the colour. Shining, pale salmon colour with copper shades, or maybe peach. Beautifully playing with the light.
Aromas: tender and fresh aroma of stone fruits, cherry, plum.
Taste: voluminous and elegant taste, fresh final.
While tasting the wine, we read its more detailed description in the website of the winery, which is so romantically written. The grapes were harvested early in the morning and then they spent a night in a cool room at 8 degrees celsius. In the morning, the full clusters were pressed at low temperature without any addition of sulphites. The juice was then clarified by cold. The fermentation went for 25 days at 16 degrees. Then followed three months of sur lees aging. Finally, in the greenishing spring, it went to the bottle and then to our table.
One of the things that make us love Italy more and more is the culture and the attitude to food and wine. The easiness and simplicity in all of this. The aspiration to enjoy the moment, withot going into insane searches. The art of creating unique tastes and aromas from what you have on hand, in your house, without needing to go round the world. Enjoying and experimenting with what is closest and the most natural to you. Rosaspina brings this scent, even though it is hard to explain how a glass of wine could create a feeling of easiness and pure, casual bliss. Maybe we are just imaganing.
Pairing Rosaspina with food
It came natural to us to pair Rosaspina with Italian food. Maria got ready for a culinary challenge because she would try to cook something as close to Italian as possible. Luckily, it appeared that the proper pairs for Rosaspina are quite simple to execute, traditional and delicious Italian meals. Like spaghetti aglio e olio, spaghetti Napoli and any pizza. Why life has to be complicated when it can be easy?
So, we decided to try with spaghetti aglio e olio, a very tasty and very classical Italian dish. To prepare it, you only need spaghetti, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and pecorino cheese (or parmiggiano or similar hard grated cheese). It takes about 11 minutes to cook and is one of the favourite pasta dishes of Andrey. A popular variety of this pasta is „spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino”, but we chose the simplest version without the hot pepper. And the 11 minutes of cooking, together with a glass of Rosaspina, made our evening joyful and calm, Bulgarian, but with an Italian feeling.
| Wine: | Rosaspina, Family Reserve |
| Country: | Bulgaria |
| Grape: | 100 % Sangiovese |
| Vintage: | 2018 |
| Winery: | Zlaten Rozhen |
| Location of the vineyard: | Levunovo village, Sandanski |
| Price: | 17.90 BGN from the winery’s online shop |
| Barrel: | No |
| Serving temperature: | 10-12°C |
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