Cherry Blossom Viewing with Rose
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Sakura
It’s coming up to sakura (Cherry Blossom) season in Japan now, the buds are just starting to blossom, which means Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) is only a weekend or two away.
Hanami is a great Japanese tradition where everybody goes to parks or riversides and has picnics under the cherry blossom usually accompanied by sake or beer.
This year however many winemakers, restaurants and department stores are promoting an alternative drink according to the Daily Yomiuri.
Rose
Mercian Corp. are selling a Frontera Merlot Rose for about ￥800 ($8) as well as promoting many other roses at restaurants and izakaya (Japanese style pubs).
You can also get a half-bottle of rose champagne and two plastic glasses in a set from Moet Hennessy Diageo for easy picnic drinking.
Although Rose is pretty popular in the west, it’s accounts for only 8% of the wine market in Japan. Which I was a bit surprised at as Japanese wines tend to be quite light, fruity and sweet which seems to be like a lot of rose’s to me.
Last year, when my wife and I went to see the Sakura we had a great Rose from Inglenook. Which has strawberry and hints of rhubarb and custad sweets from my childhood on the palatte. Nice.
I’ve only tried 3 Japanese Rose’s so far, with mixed reactions :
Katsunuma Monogatari Rose 89/100
Amanohashidate Rose 60/100
Aruga Branca Rose 2008 60/100
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Pingback by Tweets that mention Cherry Blossom Viewing with Rose -- Topsy.com — March 26, 2010 @ 12:58 am
My favorite time of year to visit Washington DC is to be there when the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom. The trees were gifts from Japan. The first time I saw them was in 1970 and after moving north in 1973 I try to visit every other year.
The only time I brought a bottle of wine to the park it was a Pinot Noir. Maybe next year I'll bring along a nice dry Rose'.
Comment by joeshico — April 5, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Hi Joeshico. Cherry blossoms are pretty beautiful. We went to our local river to see them on Saturday. I took along a bottle of Cono Sur Pinot Noir Reserva this year which was very nice.
Comment by MoIppai — April 5, 2010 @ 6:03 pm