Looking at the website it’s rare to see more white wine in the line up than reds.

Hello hello! It’s been a minute, my Casemates friends. Alice must be stalking my Cellartracker and specifically sending me wines that are outside my comfort zone… and I love it. Napa cabs are my jam; put a glass in my face and I’ll probably get the AVA right, and vintage within a few years. But whites and roses? Might as well be asking me to rate whiskey, but here goes!

Brick Barn. Grenache Rose. Haven’t heard of them, and never had that varietal rose. The Casemates sticker… when did that start?

I was impressed right off the bat to see a DIAM 5 cork.
That’s high quality with a very low TCA, meaning the likelihood of a corked bottle is very low. To me, that indicates that they’ve acknowledged their core competency is in the winemaking, and thoughtfully picked the cork for a specific property.

In the glass, it’s a very pale pink, not one of those jarringly fluorescent roses you’d make a smoothie with. This isn’t of the “rose all day” class, but (read on) would easily fit in with the crowd.

I didn’t know where this would taste, so the bottle was fridge cold for the first glass. And, well… this ain’t where it belongs. Cold, muted aromas tell nothing of the story this wine has to impart. Quick legs that need to stretch out before joining you on a walk down memory lane. Crisp strawberry, leafy greens, and candied something (watermelon?) were the only notes I could barely pick out when it was this cold. It was tart, but smooth, with a buttery finish usually reserved for an oaked chardonnay. Now, don’t get upset by that statement: I don’t love a butter bomb, and this isn’t one. But it coats your pallet and hangs on for a minute, asking you: well? well?

About 30 warming minutes later, and this wine shows very clean. A little sour apple comes out to play, and there’s the watermelon dum dum, but all the aforementioned flavors are just much more prominent without the chill. It’s juicy… mouth wateringly. I’ll admit it, I finished the bottle, so what? Like I said, this one can hang.

Again, I don’t meddle much in this sector of the wine world, so I didn’t know how to price this. I sheepishly said $20-$25? So when I looked up that it goes for $32 from the winery, and $10-$14 in this offering, I felt like that was a pretty good guess, and a pretty good deal. Points? Ugh, you don’t listen to points, right? F’it, I’ll give 'er “87 Tompoints”. They don’t have a cash value, but are corrected to the wine type and varietal for what I like. I think this one would have a lot of popular appeal: it’s an inoffensive easy drinker, and people would ask about the winery and where they can find it. I’ll bet most people won’t have had a grenache rose, so there’s that.

First off, I will say that this wine is very pretty. The bottle had no foil at the top and the glass is completely transparent, so the cork pops against the peachy pink color of the wine. More of a summer date wine than a football man cave wine to me, but I wouldn’t turn it down in either setting. Also, while that clear bottle is pretty sexy, you’re probably not going to want to store this anywhere near a window.
I had it out of the fridge for a bit before opening, but probably not long enough. It was light and somewhat muted at opening. Flower petals, perfume, some faint strawberries, watermelon and alcohol were present. Lots of acidity. Super dry. Very little sweetness if any.
As it warmed and opened up, red fruit tastes were mostly taken over by grapefruit and minerality. I found it like a slightly pink vermentino. Had that same bitterness (in a good way) and super stoney. The finish left my mouth in a state that was familiar, but took a while to think of. Super random, but if you’ve ever had Quench gum, its that. Refreshing but also not at the same time. Again, not in a bad way. It’s just not the type of wine you’re going to pound the way Napolean Dynamite drinks his Gatorade.
My wife and I really liked this wine and plan on buying some. We are opposites when it comes to wine. She prefers the sweet fruity stuff, so when I find something dry and with some complexity to it that she likes it is a huge win for me. We also live in Florida, so there is no shortage of rose occasions.
Now on to the food pairing. Seeing the date potential here, I surprised the Mrs. with a wine and cheese board in bed date. It was a hit. Mostly because we have a walking 9-month-old that we both chase around all day while trying to work from home. You could hand me my taxes in bed at the end of the day and I would do them with a big old grin on my face. This was a treat.
My wife and I both found the wine did better with the sweeter, creamier, and nuttier stuff. We had prosciutto, brie, cheddar, edam, grapes, apples, marcona almonds, and some lavender honey which all brought out different things in the wine. We also had some really sour/briny feta olives and pearl onions that enhanced the bitterness a bit too much for our liking.
Pro tip, go to a restaurant supply store and get yourself a humungous cutting board for like 20 bucks. Not only is it good for romantic meals in bed, but you can spatchcock a whole turkey on that thing after you’re done. Since I know you all like photos, here was the spread and setup. If you sickos are looking for anything else, you’re going to need to subscribe to my onlyfans.

The team from Breast Cancer Resource Center SB sent us share the message below!

“We are grateful to be the beneficiary of your campaign. With the help of donors like you we can ensure our free services and programs will be available to every woman who comes to us in need.”

So if you’re on the fence, just buy the wine. It’s for an amazing organization… And date nights. Lots of date nights. 4 or 12 of them.