This is our mostest-favoritest rosé of the new vintage so far. Sure, you can be forgiven for never having heard of the Susumaniello grape. In order to, you’d, most likely, either be studying for your second level sommelier exam or have had opportunity to eat and drink in coastal Puglia, along Italy’s Adriatic Coast. Even if you had traveled there, you might have been more likely tempted to order something marginally more familiar (or easier to pronounce), like Puglia’s much better known Negroamaro or Primitivo instead, to go with your orecchiette pasta. Susumaniello (sue-sue-mon-ee-ello), though, is worth the inevitable trip of the tongue when you try to order it. It is, in our opinion, the very essence of this sunny, wind-swept cerulean blue coast in a bottle. 

Dry and exceedingly minerally, there is great substance to go along with its fabulous aromatics and persistent flavors. Just think about walking through one of the many impossibly colorful gardens that surround the whitewashed walls of Ostuni and you get the idea- lemon, blood orange, all kinds of flowers, maybe a squeeze of some other sunny fruit? Something tropical perhaps? Wow. Not going to be anywhere overlooking the Adriatic with a perfectly grilled San Pietro bathed in a fragrant chili brodo in front of you this summer? Do the next best thing and chill a bottle of this and make your own magical food and wine pairing in your own backyard heaven on earth! And it’s really, really good all on its own too!  

**** Arugulas, *** Hammocks on PRIMA’s scientific Rose scale.