Kacaba, 2011 Rebecca Rose, VQA

Without M here, I must drink alone, or with K as the case may be! After a hard day’s work, in the words of Christina from Grey’s Anatomy, “I need a drink, a man, or a massage, or a drunken massage from a man!” As only one of those was forthcoming, we opened a bottle of wine. So with A in her blanket and K in her onesie, we settled in for a night of reviewing. Tonight’s choice was a 2011 Rebecca Rose from Kacaba on the Niagara Escarpment. The 2010 is available at the LCBO for $11.95, but sometimes they aren’t so hot at updating their vintage years, so it is likely that they carry the 2011 now. 

Frankly though, I’d go for some Wild Vines again with this review. This is not what I hoped for from a rose. Some roses are made by blending whites and reds, this one is made by leaving red grapes for only a short time with their skins, which reduces the red colour but produces a different flavour. They are usually drier and more complex. And in wine world, that means fewer people are guaranteed to like them. We would not buy this again at $11.95. A would drink it again, but K says otherwise.

K- It smells alcoholy (it is 12.8%). On tasting, I can confirm it is a STRONG ASS wine. Honestly, it tastes like fruity flavoured nail polish remover. I get lots of fruits, like red berries and watermelon, maybe even strawberries, but it is overwhelmingly alcoholy. Chocolate doesn’t improve it. I do not like that. I like the flavour underneath the alcohol but I don’t like how strong it was. I did not get the orange or passionate fruit tastes. The smaller the sip, the better it tastes to me. Maybe eating tacos for dinner threw it off for me? I don’t know. I really do dig the fruit flavours, but it feels like there are two sections of wine flavours. There is alcohol/ nail polish remover and then fruit but NOT together. Mixing it with juice did not help. That shit should taste lot better for $12. This wine does have a very lovely textured bottle though. A lot of companies think about looks, but this one has texture too.

A- To me, it smells like cotton candy. It is dry and minerally, but I get a lot of strawberries but a strong alcohol finish as well. It definitely takes after the red wine side of rose, rather than the white side of rose. If you like light fruity roses, this is not your wine. It is a more complex less friendly rose, taking after its Cab Franc. It is all finish, no body. However, that finish, once it lingers, is kind of like fermented cotton candy. I don’t entirely hate it, in fact I kind of dig it. But you might not.
Some advice: don’t drink it with buffalo wing chips. It loses all the flavour and just tastes like booze. It promises a “refreshing acidity” and perhaps that is what alcohol tastes like? Eating very sweet gummies didn’t fully cut out the alcohol for me, but it did help a little. If I were to drink this again, I would try it with a summer salad, maybe a Greek salad. Something with some acidity to cut the wine would probably help. If I was having a party, I would make this into a sangria, but I’m not, so will drink it alone with K.
Girls night lesson? Not all roses are made the same. Think before you drink!