it's still summer and i'm not done drinking rosé

Not that I'm just going to stop drinking them once fall starts, it's just I'm not ready for fall to arrive. Why should I be- it's only the first week of September and it's gonna be 90 degrees today. Which makes me very thirsty.

When it's so hot outside (and inside) I try to think cool thoughts to keep the temperature down in my mind. Which got me thinking about the awesome trip to Spain's Castilla y León region last February (thank you again Bob, Matt, Classical Wines of Spain and Junta de Castilla y León).

Castilla is considered the fountainhead of Spanish culture. This is where it all began after the Christians drove out the Moors, aided in part by vast under ground passages that still exist and today play a role in Spanish wine making. There are five particular wine districts that settle on or near the great river Duero- Ribera del Duero, Cigales, Rueda, Toro and on the very far reaches of its border El Bierzo.

So, my cool thought for today has taken me to Cigales, land of rosado wine. Just north of Valladolid it's arid looking and flat. Nothing modern here just super rural and agricultural, but the coolest thing about it is the zarceras (chimneys) that dot the landscape, seeming to push up and out of the earth, each marking an underground cellar. Local growers have traditionally made extraordinarily good rosados in these perfectly temperature-controlled underground cellars for hundreds of years.

The main grapes are Tinto del País (local name for Tempranillo), Garnacha Tinta, Garnacha Gris, Verdejo and Albillo. The DO Cigales was established in 1991. Rosado Cigales can only be released after December 31st the year following the harvest. There are white grapes but no white wines made in the area.

While they are not well known here in the States, they are consumed with gusto in northern Spain and in my back yard. These wines are simple, fresh and delicious--giving great pleasure.

Rosados here come in many shades of pink to nearly red which is also quite traditional.

At Bodegas Gonzales Lara, whose 2008 Fuente del Conde Rosado is chilling right now in my fridge, the rosado is quite dark and typically served in a red wine glass. I swear this wine just gets better in the bottle. Fresh red fruits scream with a bite of chorizo.

So, grab some chorizo, a little sheep's cheese, olives, lamb, even something from the sea, and a cool cheers to you to these last days of summer.