I'm not a Bordeaux fan because I cannot afford to be. The simple wines from Bordeaux tend to be herbaceous and tannic in the case of reds, and acidic and thin in the case of whites. The Bordeaux wines that I favor are incredible-and also $70 or more a bottle. Purchasing a $70 bottle of wine is the equivalent of buying something that is $350 per gallon. The Arabs have nothing on the French. Like I said, I cannot afford to like Bordeaux.

Yet here's a label that's the exception that proves the rule. I featured their white wine in this space last winter, which spurred me to taste the rose recently. It has as much to offer as the white. Salmon pink, the wine is made from 100 percent cabernet sauvignon grapes. A melon aroma swirled with a dried strawberry nuance would lead you to believe this is an American-style rose-in other words, fruity sweet. Not so. The melon impression morphs into an almost mineral cucumber on the tongue. It drinks dry with a generous acid that carries some berry fruit but predominately minerals. A snippet of the famed cabernet tannin shows up in just enough proportion to make it even more interesting. This is a red wine drinker's pink wine, and will do well with a variety of summer foods.

Craig Pierce, clubhouse manager of Baker Hill Golf Club in Newbury, can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it