10 Pink Wines to Drink for Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve 2023
If there is a category of wines that is most forgotten, underestimated, and misinterpreted, it is that of pink wines, or rosé or rosati. In reality, they are magnificent, imaginative, and perfect wines to enhance a thousand dishes, from fish dishes to Chinese cuisine, from cold cuts to white meats, from appetizers to the coveted role of aperitifs.
Pink wines have all the charm of reds but without the alcoholic heaviness or the prepotency of tannins. They are slightly more full-bodied than classic whites but know how to offer infinite freshness and pleasure thanks to excellent aromatic depth.
Many relegate them to summer wine for fish salad, but this is pure folly, an act of sheepish passivity that has no reason to be. You are depriving yourself of great pleasure.
They are versatile, elegant, and deep, but graceful and suitable for all solutions. The price range we have chosen is contained: we want pulp and substance, but we are not looking for the definitive wine. Therefore, you will not find Valentini’s pink wine, this is not meant to be the usual list of the best pink wines that all blogs frantically write ejaculating words at random, but only a compact and cheeky list of shopping tips.
Solid wines that can be paired with fish, octopus, and beans, but also with the classic cotechino with lentils and mashed potatoes. Exactly, these wines are perfect for all holidays, you can use them from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve and then all year round. Do not underestimate them, especially because the rebirth of pink wines is happening right now and it would be folly not to take advantage of it.
Frisant Rosato il Farneto 2020
A small gem, an elegant, subtle, juicy, but never banal naturally fermented pink wine. The winery is part of Vinnatur and no sulfites are added. Great acid push, delicate effervescence, rhythm, and vitality. It costs less than €10 and is a bomb of Emilian typicality, a wine full of substance that you can also pair with fatty dishes such as cotechino. If you want to learn more, here is the review.
Rossato Ampeleia 2020
We go up a small intensity step, this pure Alicante Nero does not have bubbles, but is a bomb of intoxicating flavors and scents. It exudes charisma from every pore, it is tasty, tense, and vibrant and never relaxes the gustatory tension. It flows smoothly in the mouth, easy, but has incisiveness and grip. €13: an incredible price to pay for an elegant and precise natural wine, which will accompany every fish dish on Christmas Eve, without flinching. The review.
Briscola e Tresette 2020 Podere San Biagio
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo finds in the pink wine a new expressive dimension and it is no coincidence that it is one of the most popular and sought after wines of the Abruzzese tradition. It is a wine with a strong personality, with a deep and full-bodied flavor, which manages to marry the fruity scents of red berry fruits with the spicy and floral notes of the territory. It is a wine that is not afraid to show off its muscles and that can be paired with the most classic Christmas Eve dishes, such as lobster or scallops. It costs about €15 and is a wine that will not disappoint you.
Rosza 2021, Koppitsch
Splendid agricultural and cheeky wine that plays on lightness, the gracefulness of perfumes, and a splendid salty propulsion. Blend of Blaufränkisch, Sankt Laurent, Pinot Noir, and Syrah that ferment spontaneously, without the addition of yeasts. It is not the wine that changes your life in absolute terms, but it improves it every day. As an everyday appetizer wine, for octopus and beans, or for an appetizer such as veal with tuna sauce, it is perfect. With these suggestive scents of pepper and rose, ginger and cherry, it is a small pearl of concentration and dreamy arabesques. Very ephebic structure, but with a crystalline personality. Very acceptable price: 18 euros.
Riflesso 2020, Eugenio Rosi
Eugenio Rosi’s wines are epiphanic. They have been delighting us for years with their innate and cheeky elegance, long before natural wines became “trendy”. If you have never visited him in the cellar, in Calliano, in his palace, remedy this gap and find out what real wine is, what it means to be a winemaker and witness of a territory. But not for the usual marketing bullshit, but because Eugenio Rosi is one of the greatest exponents of Italian wine. Not only is he natural and sincere in his approach, but also technical and experienced. His wines are not trivial and are manifested with arrogance and pride. It may take a few years for them to reach maturity, but few people can boast of productive sincerity, candor, and greater attention. And this rosé is a candidate as an all-rounder wine. It has floral scents, intensity, and a quick pace, but it’s not all so predictable. There are spicy and enveloping aromas, the structure is more fleshy, it almost bites, and the acidity does not stop: it is a three-dimensional wine. First the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Marzemino grapes are fermented and macerated for two days, then there is a review with the Nosiola and Pinot Blanc, which add a further dimension and aromatic depth. The result is always a jaunty wine, but with a mocking attitude that does not leave one indifferent. Very affordable price: 14 euros.
Pink Freud Canlibero
Let’s move to Campania to uncork a clean, precise, penetrating and highly addictive wine. This Aglianico is a crazy saraband of perfumes. Pepper, citrus, flowers and ginger chase each other until the spasm. The rhythm is wild, but the line is fine and prim. On the palate, it is penetrating and juicy, full of energy, but all played on a game of delicate contrasts. Wine to combine with any fish dish. Excellent price: 16.90. The review.
Rosé 2021, Bonavita
Splendid blend of 60% Nerello Mascalese, 30% Nerello Cappuccio and 10% Nocera. If we wanted to make a comparison with the world of whisky, this wine is the Talisker of Sicily. An incredible dualism between fleshy fruit and sea, forest and saltiness animate this juice that flows without hesitation. It has grit and just enough depth that allows it to rise and also aspire to a certain refinement in the bottle. However, even now it is excellent and sharp, rough and carved in stone, without ever falling into roughness. Courageous, pulpy and rich wine, persuasive, but with a soul of steel. One of the best Italian rosés without a doubt, for depth, vitality and fullness. 20-21 euros: adequate price, the substance is all there!
Rosato Syrah Tenimenti D’Alessandro 2020
The most immediate of all the rosés on the list, the one that comes closest to a real juice. The alcohol is almost invisible, the drinkability is amazing, the finesse of the fruit, and the play between green flavors, pepper and watermelon is fantastic and will enchant both the nose and the palate. It is not a complex wine, it reveals itself immediately and without veils, but it does not pretend anything, it does not want to be snobbish, but only loved as it is. Popular price: 11-12 euros.
Beltane vino rosato ancestrale
Rustic and tasty wine, crunchy in the acidic push with which it tickles your palate. Elegant and direct nose, fruity and floral, with good breadth. Pleasant and never aggressive bubbles. Easy to drink. Price: 15 euros, honest.
Le Nuvole Rosato Angol D’Amig 2020
In terms of drinkability, elegance of the silhouette and credibility of structure, this rosé is unrivaled. Maybe it’s a bit extreme like acidity, but it’s nice that it’s so abrasive and irreverent. A wide-ranging blend of Lambrusco Salamino and Grasparossa, a masterpiece of balance, depth, salt and drinkability. Clear and taut fruit, endless flowers, aromas of rock and mint, while in the mouth it explodes with spectacular freshness. Price once again laughable: 12 euros.