Our last stop on the rosé-glasses tour is Portugal, with the surprising Gazela Rosé.

Surprising for a couple of reasons, in fact. First, when I opened the bottle there was a hint of effervescence, something I was (obviously) not expecting but not something I minded either. The next, immediate, thing I noticed was that the scent of the wine was very fruity and sweet–I hadn’t even poured it yet and I could tell.

Or could I?

The nose of this rosé is deceptive, though. In a spectacular bait-and-switch, as my nose was sending ‘get ready for something sweet’ signals to my mouth, my taste buds were going what the hell?! Because this is not a sweet wine. It’s a touch dry and very crisp. They weren’t kidding with this brief description on their bottle:

Gazela Rosé is a refreshing, young and floral light wine.

No kidding! If by refreshing you mean it’ll wake you up from any after-work stupor you may have been flumping your way through.

Please don’t misunderstand me, though–even though I was shocked by the flavor of the wine, once the initial confusion subsides what you have is on par with a pink Champagne. I see this going very well with fruit or at a cocktail party, it would mix wonderfully with purees for some sparkling cocktails, or refresh you in the waning heat of summer. (Like summer every really ends here in Florida. Well, for more than a couple of weeks.)

In fact, I just splashed some together with chilled cranberry juice and the two together are very nice.

Again, this was another Cost Plus/World Market find, so most likely at or under $10 a bottle and definitely party-stock worthy.

Next week we’re back to mixing and shaking, folks–are you ready?

~Cheers!