The Aperitif. Cocktail Hour. The "After-Work-Dinner's-Not-Done-Yet Get-Together." It's a mingling warm-up for dinner table conversation. I first noticed this ritual in Mary Poppins and other cultural icons: The Man comes home and pours a drink. Even my Midwestern parents practiced this ritual: cheese and crackers, herring!, sardines, and a cold beer while catching the 6 o'clock news.
It hit me personally while visiting my mother-in-law. Individuals would convene without summons in the living room. Last to appear was my French man's mom: svelte, shining, a smile bursting from her sun-kissed face and champagne glasses on a tray. "Champagne?" she asked innocently. I am not the kind of person who says no....Later, my father-in-law would school me in pastis--that Green Fairy that I forever associate with the South of France, hot, dry summers, and older French men with kind, knowing smiles.
My family practices this with vigor. Sometimes it's me, my Frenchman, and beer after our weekday run. Sometimes it's white wine and cassis (think French wine coolers!) with a bowl of pistachios. We may come across perfectly ripe avocados, and --what's a girl to do?--I am suddenly squeezing lemons and limes for my margarita. (I may have two, and then dinner gets downgraded to quesadillas....) My kids may pull me outside for the sunset and a game of petanque. I am presented with a glass of pastis, milky white and icy. I sip and lose with dignity.
My favorite aperitif is a chilled glass of rosé. Blush wine. So feminine. So coy. So misunderstood. What better way to spend that soft limbo than with a pink drink. In the US, they call it "white zinfandel". In the US, they cheat and mix a little white and red together to create a Frankenstein beverage that's too sugary and not at all refeshing at the end of the day. In the US, this wine is neglected, ostracized, relegated to two brands in the grocery store, a lower class bottle.
I beg to differ. A great rosé, whether it's pale palette is sunset pink, barely peach, or stained watermelon red, has a place at your table, especially before it's set. Rosé is a perfect foil for salty tapenade, garlicy bruschetta, spicy nuts. Serving a salad first? Keep that glass, refill it and hit that dressing head on. Serving Mexican? Indian? Thai? Caribean? Go PINK! Having cheese pizza? A nice little glass of rosé, even a Grenache, will cut through that stringy layer of melty yum and present your mouth with the perfect contrast. Pour a rosé instead of white with your chicken, your pork chop!, your crab, your scallops or shrimp...
Some will stare. Some will smirk. "Pink wine!" The guys may chuckle. Let them--more for us! Smile and blink and pour yourself another. Now THAT'S Happy Hour.
hmm...
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