2008 Bandol Rosé, Domaine Le Galantin

I got this wine from K&L, and honestly, it's a bit on the pricey side for rose. In my mind, this is ridiculous expensive for rose. My go to bottles are always less than 10$, probably because what makes rose great is that it isn't supposed to have a lot of pretense and is primarily something to cool down with. Not that rose can't be well made and intriguing, and not that rose isn't an awesome accompaniment to all sorts of food, it's just that most of what makes rose great also makes it cheap. This rose is from Bandol, which is basically the place for rose in France, so I'm willing to let the cost slide for the sake of education. It was 19$ but is sold out now.

Salmon colored. Strawberries, minerals, wet stones, and I think I smelled some herbs in there too. A lot of racy acidity to balance out the stony finish. This is well made and delicious, but for my money, there are similar bottles for around 10$ or 12$ from Spain or the Rhone that are just as tasty. B- (this could be an A at around 10$, but it's pricey at 19$.) I drank this wine with some heirloom tomatoes covered in olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and basil(is there really anything better about summer?? It's probably one of my top 3 favorite things to eat) and some pate (it's amazing how long a small thing of pate will last...I guess because it's so rich). While I was at it, I watched a surreal 1970 film from the Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. "El Topo" is a surreal Western a la Fellini. Fellini never did a Western, but if he did one, it would look a lot like this. A strange, weird, graphic, gory, and wonderfully fucked up movie. It you're a fan of Fellini, it's a good thing to check out. I enjoyed it quite a bit.