Month: July 2011

New shows announced: Trey Anastasio and My Morning Jacket

Starr Hill Presents announced a couple of exciting new shows: Phish frontman Trey Anastasio comes October 15 to the Pavilion. In recent years, guitar virtuoso Anastasio has overcome addiction (and become a vocal advocate for drug courts) reformed his old band Phish, and played a three-day festival in upstate New York—featuring Phish and only Phish, for three straight days.

October’s gig will feature the same formation of his Trey Anastasio Band that debuted last winter. Aside from Phish, Anastasio has released eight solo albums that have been a breeding ground for Phish material. (Below is an actually-quite-lovely clip of Time Turns Elastic, an orchestral piece Anastasio released as a solo record, which was released as a single on Phish’s album Joy.)

Tickets go on sale in early August.

Anastasio’s Time Turns Elastic. More below.

Also announced: My Morning Jacket plays the Pavilion on August 24. The group, which also came to town in 2008, has been a heavy presence on the summer festival circuit since forming more than a decade ago, all while expanding the palate of Southern rock. Like most of MMJ’s albums, the latest, this year’s Circuital (released on Dave Matthews’ ATO Records) has been well-received by fans and critics. Hear the lead single below. 

Victory Dance by My MORNING JACKET

Categories
The Editor's Desk

Readers' respond to previous issues








No freedom in impermanence

 

Dear editors of C-ville, 

 

The cover of your last issue featured a picture of the "free speech" monument on the downtown mall. My question to you is what could this monument possibly mean to you? 

 

I can only assume that as an independent weekly publication in a world of media empires and syndicated local news, you must care about this question. In the midst of the outrage over the practices of the worlds biggest media empire, people all over the world are asking the question: what do we want from our media? These questions are in the air right now, and they are related. So it saddens me to see a very basic confusion over what free speech actually is, in the form of this monument on the downtown mall, and even more so in the attention it gets from your publication. 

 

The basic confusion lies in the difference between a newspaper and an asylum. Perhaps the first institution in the world to recognize the rights of individuals to free speech was the asylum. People were locked away, constrained to a particular space in which they could say anything they pleased. This is precisely how the downtown monument to free speech works. It does three things which make actual democratic "free speech" impossible: 

 

1) It makes the writing temporary. Rather than write on the walls with something permanent, like spray paint, constrain your words to this surface of slate, which can easily be erased. 

 

2) It eliminates the possibility of authorship. There is no need to guarantee the right to free speech when no one ever knows who is speaking. 

 

3) It subjects the writing to the editing of any passer-by, or even to the weather itself. If I don’t like what you write, I can just change a few words around, or erase it altogether. In the case of the monument on the mall, even a small burst of rain can edit what we write. I think we should all recognize that things are going badly when in the world we have made the rain itself is a form of censorship. 

 

In effect the monument on the downtown mall functions to guarantee free speech the same way that asylums do: by constraining the space in which speech can be free, and making that space an anonymous space of inmates rather than individuals. Nothing can be political there. Nurse Ratched designed our monument to free speech. 

 

This is why I am saddened to see a publication that has much more of a claim to being a monument to free speech than this monument, give it so much attention. When you publish your next issue, it will be written in ink that cannot be edited, by authors who are known and can be held accountable for the words that they write, on a medium that can be distributed and is material rather than ephemeral. This is the difference between an asylum and a newspaper. 

 

Let’s try to keep this distinction in mind. 

 

Seth Denizen 

 

Too old to be new

 

Yes, a bypass for 29 is a very good idea. But the plan being pushed doesn’t even meet the definition of bypass, which is “a road or highway that avoids or ‘bypasses’ a built-up area, town or village.” This route has been tabled and defeated for 20 years because it’s bad – hideously expensive, detrimental to schools, residences, quality of life for many AND largely ineffective in reducing traffic congestion on 29. How about looking at 2011 conditions and starting anew. A logical northern starting point might be around Ruckersville. Not “through” Ruckersville, but “around.”

 

Judith Reagan 

Albemarle County

 

Huja for Downtown

 

In a recent C-VILLE article about the possible relocation of the City Market, Council Member Satyendra Huja was quoted as saying that the market offered an economic opportunity for Downtown. Mr. Huja understands creating greater economic prosperity through careful planning and discussion.

 

As City Planner for decades, he took criticism for his focus on the Downtown Mall, which is now a thriving business district. Likewise, while many of us citizens just plain love the Market experience, Mr. Huja (who also is a Market habituee) understands its role in the economic vitality of Downtown. As a Council member, he also comprehends how the Market – with City participation — could contribute to the redevelopment along Water Street, leading to greater vitality for both the Market and Downtown.

 

I hope Democrats and Independents will support Mr. Huja in his bid for a second term at the “firehouse primary” at Burley School on Saturday, August 20. With an ability to make decisions based on the city’s long term interests, he has excellent urban planning background, a proven record of working with all sectors of our community and a lifetime commitment to public service.

 

Kay Slaughter

Charlottesville

 

 

A New Definition of “Sustainability”

 

Do you know what “sustainability” means to the Jefferson Area Planning District Commission? It means creating “conditions that promote a healthy balance of wealth, power and privilege”—”to be measured by the gap between incomes of the rich and the poor.” In order to do this “societal benefits and costs are equitably shared by all citizens.” Can you see redistribution of wealth?

 

Sustainability means controlling Albemarle County’s population related to “age, race/ethnicity, income/personal wealth, education and employment status.” In other words we should all be exactly the same?

 

Sustainability means ensuring that “every member of the community has access to adequate and affordable transportation.” Who decides adequate and affordable?

 

Sustainability means “every member of the community is able to obtain employment that offers just compensation, fulfillment, and opportunities for advancement”. Who decides just compensation and if every single person is fulfilled?

 

Does this sound like sustainability to you? —- or does it sound like big government making all your decisions for you and doing all this at an exorbitant cost? How can this be sustainability? It will result in bankruptcy just like the problems the nation currently faces !

 

Do you realize this document called “The 1998 Sustainability Accords” has been adopted and in place in our County since 1998?

 

How do we get rid of this? Ask your members of the Board of Supervisors.

 

You really must read this document in its entirety to see for yourselves — to see how this document means to increase the pervasive attempt to change our lives and makes all our decisions for us. If you cherish the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for, now is the time to be especially aware and do all possible to reverse this trend.

 

Mary Ann Doucette

Crozet

 

Defend the air you breathe

 

If someone were to ask you to select which issue is the most important to you personally, air pollution or your family’s health, you might think on this and answer with one of them. In actuality, it isn’t right to choose one issue over the other when the two are so tightly intertwined.

 

A study by the National Resources Defense Council determined that coal-and oil-fired power plants produce almost half the toxic air pollution in the United States.

 

The facilities that generate our electricity are also our biggest sources of air pollution, including both smog and acid rain, and also mercury, which rains down and contaminates us through the fish we eat. Just today I read that Virginia now has the distinction of being chosen as one of the 20 states with the most air pollution in our country. On July 23rd, Alexandria issued a “Code Orange” which is a smog alert telling people to keep their children indoors so as not to allow outdoor play.

 

The EPA estimates that the reduction of toxic pollution would save as many as 17,000 lives every year by 2015. Up to 12,000 cases of childhood asthma could also be prevented if reductions are successful.

 

Air toxic from coal-fired power plants cause cancer, birth defects, and respiratory illness. Just one of those air toxics, mercury, damages the developing brains of fetuses, infants, and small children. It robs our children of healthy neurological development and native intelligence.

 

Thank you, Michael Bloomberg, mayor of NYC for calling attention to this most pressing of issues, big, dirty coal and how it relates to air pollution and to the health of all Americans.

 

Thank you for your time and $50 million dollar donation to the Sierra Club to halt the creation of more coal burning plants. Now we al need to do our part to encourage alternative cleaner forms of energy.

 

As concerned Virginians, we should write to our power companies and representatives to let them know our feelings and to encourage them t enforce the EPA standards to refurbish the existing power plants with scrubbers and filters. House Republicans are doing everything they can to tame the EPA.

 

Sidney and Rochelle Sitzer

Charlottesville

 

Jinx is tops for BBQ

 

Friends —

 

I greatly enjoyed your article on BBQ, but disagree on the methods of judging. It would be like rating eight martinis all placed waxed Dixie cups. Anticipation and presentation are part of the overall pleasure in both food and drink. The kaleidoscopic decorative art and personalized conversation with Jinx provide a delightful ambience integral to the overall gustatorial experience.

 

If someone doesn’t want to shlepp a half hour to the two “winners” clean-well-lighted places, Jinx’s joint is Charottesville’s BBQ winner.

 

John S. Marr, MD 

Free Union 

Categories
Living

Small bites

Price check

As National Hot Dog Month comes to a close, the Downtown Hotdog Company is offering another reason to celebrate: lower prices. Gourmet dogs (the kind with lots of specialty toppings like peanut butter, mac-n-cheese or pineapple) are now $3.95 (veggie dogs, too!). Custom dogs start at $2.95. Throw in a side of tater tots, finish with some funnel cake and you’ve got yourself a party.

Stay tuned

Patience, foodies. Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, says owner Alex George, is still looking at a much-anticipated August opening. Whether that means the Downtown Mall spot will open early, middle or late August, still isn’t clear.

“The date’s kind of a moving target at this point,” he says. George will have a better idea once permits start to come in, which he says will happen this week. The restaurant was also awaiting a verdict on its certificate of appropriateness, which the Board of Architectural Review approved last week.

As for the actual restaurant (which passers-by will notice still looks unfinished), George says, “You just gotta be positive and stay strong.” We’ll know more next week after a walk-through. Check back for more info.

 

Garlic, vindicated

We harvested our garlic a couple of weeks ago–the culmination of an experiment of sorts. We’ve grown garlic for about five years, always just planting whatever cloves we happened to have or could get at the store. Buying garlic out of a seed catalog seemed like an extravagence (it’s more expensive than grocery store garlic). But, when we kept harvesting tiny heads, we started to suspect it might be worthwhile.

Then came our CSA to the rescue. In our shares we’d get these huge fat heads, and we put them aside for planting rather than eating. The farm grows a stiffneck variety and they have amazing results with it. These became our seed stock. (To plant garlic, you just break up a head into cloves and push these into the soil. Do that at Halloween, and each clove will form a head by Independence Day.)

The plants looked great this spring and we had high hopes. Sure enough, when July 4 rolled around, we dug up our best-looking garlic harvest ever.

How exciting! These should take us through to next summer.

We also saved some "bulbiles"–these are the seeds that form inside the garlic plant’s flower. Normally you cut off the tall flower stalk, called the "scape," to encourage bigger heads to form. But we let some of them go, and now we have tons of the bulbiles, which look like tiny garlic cloves. Turning these into full-grown garlic heads will take a couple of years and several stages, but we’re going to try it.

All in all, a very successful crop. A gardener needs some of those. (If only we could say the same for our broccoli…).

Anyone else grow garlic this year? How’d it turn out?

Categories
News

The show must go on

In what Meadow Creek Parkway opponents are calling a victory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers withdrew a permit last Wednesday for key components of McIntire Road Extended (MRE), one of the two city portions of the Meadow Creek Parkway (MCP). The permit, which allowed for the creation of a sewer crossing and culvert, was necessary for construction of the long-debated roadway.

Construction of the city’s portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway, which would run through Charlottesville’s largest park (pictured), could begin as early as this week, according to a VDOT spokesman.

The withdrawal came a day before U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon was scheduled to hear arguments in a preliminary injunction suit filed to prevent construction through McIntire Park. A hearing for the injunction, filed by the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, was ultimately cancelled.

“We think that they knew they were going to lose and they just decided, rather than losing in court, to ask to terminate the permit,” says John Cruickshank, former chair of the local Sierra Club chapter and a vocal member of the coalition.

Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) petitioned to have the permit withdrawn in order “to modify the design of the MRE to eliminate all impacts to waters of the United States,” writes Stephen Long, VDOT’s Environmental Division Administrator, in a letter to state and local officials. Since the new design won’t have any impact on local waters, the permit is no longer necessary.

As a result, the MRE, a state-funded project, won’t be considered “a federal undertaking” any longer.

The construction of the MCP was previously divided into three pieces—a move to ensure the project’s viability, according to members of the Coalition. The three projects include Albemarle County’s Meadow Creek Parkway, which is built but is not currently open to traffic, and two city projects, MRE and the Interchange at the 250 Bypass and McIntire Road. The Interchange is the only project with federal funding obtained through a $27 million earmark by former Virginia Senator John Warner.

Lou Hatter, VDOT’s spokesperson, tells C-VILLE that the termination of the permit will not affect the design of the road except for the portion that involved a stream crossing. “The other design work is fully completed and all we have to do is look at what kind of a crossing we use to put the road across the creek,” he says.

Cruickshank says the Coalition won’t stop working to protect the park, and says its members “feel this is certainly a set back for the road builders and that it’s good news for park lovers.” A lawsuit on the Interchange at the 250 Bypass and McIntire Road is pending.

Hatter says there may not be a construction setback. On June 2, Key Construction Co., Inc. of Clarksville, Virginia was awarded the MRE construction contract for $3.37 million. Construction could begin as early as this week, according to Hatter.

“There are other construction activities that can go on while we are determining the method to cross the creek and then [take] care of the construction,” says Hatter.

Categories
News

Getting their feet wet

Despite an unexpected power outage that threatened to postpone the debate, seven Democratic City Council candidates defended their visions for the future of Charlottesville before a sizable crowd at Jackson P. Burley Middle School on July 20.

Asked about whether he would support a dredging-only plan for the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir (pictured), candidate Brevy Cannon said he wanted “to get to the bottom of dredging before we start a new dam.”

Questions about the Meadow Creek Parkway and Western Bypass split the candidates, but the community water supply plan emerged as the evening’s most contentious topic. The debate was hosted by Charlottesville Tomorrow and the Daily Progress.

During a quick “Yes or No” answer session, the candidates—dredging supporter Dede Smith, City School Board members Colette Blount and Kathy Galvin, incumbent Satyendra Huja, UVA writer Brevy Cannon, local developer Paul Beyer and James Halfaday—were asked whether they favored dredging as the primary approach to meet future water demands, as opposed to the construction of a new dam at Ragged Mountain Reservoir. Smith, Cannon, Halfaday, and Blount answered “yes.”

The water discussion followed a recently released demand analysis that suggested long-term dredging would put the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir’s “safe yield” at 10.3 million gallons per day (mgd). Smith is a member of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, which previously published a letter stating that dredging “would provide a safe yield of 15.5 mgd.” The current City Council voted 3-2 in February to support a new dam at Ragged Mountain to meet increased demands projected through 2055.

Galvin, who opposes a dredge-only approach, hammered Smith on her statement that stream flow requirements in the current water plan should be rewritten.

“Aren’t you just claiming that the facts about the environmental needs should be ignored just because those facts show that a dredging-only water plan won’t work?” asked Galvin. Smith, unfazed, said that flow requirements “would have to be rewritten” for a dredge-first plan.

Huja, one of three City Councilors who voted in February to construct a 30′ earthen dam at Ragged Mountain, asked Cannon if he would support what he called the “Dede Smith plan.”

“I have never said that I only support dredging,” Cannon said. “I just want us to get to the bottom of dredging before we start building a new dam.” Questioned by a moderator, Cannon said that he would “absolutely” seek another vote on the community water supply plan if elected. Asked the same question, both Huja and Beyer said they would not.

“How much time have we spent talking about this plan, and not focusing on workforce housing, not focusing on economic vitality in the region?” asked Beyer. “What conversations have not occurred because we have continued talking about the water supply?”

Although candidates had the opportunity to present their vision via opening statements and questions, the debate centered on two of the most controversial and long-standing issues affecting the region.

Every candidate but Smith and Blount supports the construction of the Meadow Creek Parkway through McIntire Park. Asked whether they would support the newly resurrected Western Bypass if the state funds other local transportation projects such as the Belmont Bridge replacement, Cannon, Beyer and Halfaday answered yes; Smith, Blount and Galvin said no; and Huja said maybe. For more on both roads, see page 10.

 

Categories
Living

We say 'tomato'

For the love of ’maters

Are tomatoes fruits or veggies? Do we even care when they’re ripe and ready for the eating? Their saucy side tides us over until the summer when their freshness commands our full attention. Lucky for us, these restaurants know just how to handle such juicy orbs.—Megan Headley

 

It’s not easy being green, but the tomatoes at Craig Hartman’s BBQ Exchange in Gordonsville are downright addictive when served fried.

Sure, the cajun-spiced bacon helps, but Blue Moon Diner’s (1) BLT with Duke’s mayo, thick-sliced local tomatoes and lettuce on your choice of Breadworks bread just couldn’t be without the ’mato.

Local food ambassador Harrison Keevil pays homage to his grandfather at Brookville Restaurant with a “salad” of local heirlooms, frisée, pickled red onion and Duke’s mayo.

At the Clifton Inn, Executive Chef Tucker Yoder combines every color and state (raw, roasted, dehydrated and peeled) of tomato with watermelon, basil seeds, cucumber, shaved fennel and balsamic jelly.

The summer salad at Feast! stars local tomatoes with French feta, olive oil croutons, local cucumbers, kalamata olives, basil, local arugula and balsamic herb vinaigrette.

Pappa al Pomodoro 
(Tuscan Bread and Tomato Soup)

Tavola chef/owner Michael Keaveny’s simple yet scrumptious recipe that glorifies less-than-perfect tomatoes:

Cut the crusts off a loaf of day-old bread and crisp it in the oven. Sauté garlic and red onion in olive oil. Toss in roughly chopped tomatoes (any kind will do), add cubed bread until the soup thickens and season with salt and pepper. Top with fresh basil, sea salt, black pepper, good olive oil and parmigiano.

The gazpacho at Mas Tapas is authentically Andalusian except for the fact that it uses tomatoes (and cucumbers, peppers and onions) grown in Mas’s own community garden plot.

Tavola (2) serves summer on a plate with fazoletti pasta, local cherry and beefsteak heirlooms, caramelized red onion and garlic, pesto genovese and parmigiano di bufala.

Zinc’s (3) salad of tomato, cantaloupe, cucumber gelée, elderflower, borage and Caromont fresh chèvre is almost too pretty to eat.

From the garden

Look at summer this way: While we’re lying very still in the AC, garden tomatoes everywhere are working hard at becoming their perfect summer selves. Here are a few non-recipes that require minimal effort and deliver true tomato glory.—Meredith Barnes

 
Spanish-style tomato bread:
Simple, messy and delicious. Brush a few slices of crusty bread with olive oil and grill until lightly toasted. Put the bread on a plate, rub one side with a garlic clove and the cut side of a really ripe tomato. Discard the tomato skin, sprinkle the tomato bread with coarse salt, and eat over the plate.
 
Greek-style tomato salad:
Slice a big, juicy tomato. Lay the slices on a plate and sprinkle with sliced red onion, crumbled feta, chopped fresh herbs and some good vinaigrette. Eat the whole thing by yourself.
 
Caprese sauce:
Dice tomatoes of any size and color and mix gently with torn basil leaves, plenty of olive oil, black pepper and a pinch of salt. Let sit for 20 minutes, add diced fresh mozzarella and serve over hot pasta.

 

Thomas Jefferson Health District gets $35K accreditation grant

The Thomas Jefferson Health District (TJHD)—the state Department of Health’s umbrella for the five-county area and Charlottesville—is one of 12 local health departments to receive a $35,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant funds two of the three steps towards public accreditation for health districts: a community health assessment, and a community health improvement program. The accreditation process is designed to help health districts improve performance through analysis and accountability.

And, according to stats assembled by the TJHD, we can benefit from the grant. As of last year, the TJHD ranked sixth among the state’s 35 health districts for overweight of obese adults (57.2 percent), and then there’s the multi-faceted problem of infant mortality in the city.

Take a deep breath, then let out it, Charlottesville: How can our area best improve its health?

Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule are moving to Germany

Devon Sproule and Paul Curreri have long set the high water mark for songcraft in town, to say nothing of their annual Valentine’s Day shows and regular appearances on albums by local musicians.

But time has come to say goodbye: Sproule confirmed by phone last week that the pair is moving to Berlin (no, that’s not a town in Virginia) at the end of August. Though locally loved, the pair does particularly well across the pond. 

Like a string of past records Sproule’s latest, I Love You, Go Easy, has been well-received. Curreri’s also got a new album, The Big Shitty, due out in October. Tin Angel Records, which releases material by both songwriters, is running a giveaway for those interested in remixing a track from Curreri’s new album.

Catch ’em before they leave town at a “Faretheewell” show at the Jefferson Theater on August 27. Keep your eyes on this blog in the coming weeks for more.

Check out a Podcast from earlier this year by former Feedback (and current C-VILLE news editor) Brendan Fitzgerald about Sproule and Curreri’s Valentine’s Day shows, from the "I Like You" Podcast series.

Faretheewell.

 

Categories
Living

Rosé, how do I love thee?

I never need a reason to drink rosé, but I did need a reason to write about it again. “La vie en rosé” was my debut Working Pour two years ago (cue sentimental sniff here). Since then, the once-snubbed pink drink has gone from a seasonal obsession of the few to a summer wine for all. In fact, rosé’s image has undergone such a seismic shift that it’s now considered infallible. But with myriad countries making pink wine from a wide range of grapes, the rosés can’t all be created equal. When Tastings’ newsletter mentioned that its selection of 15 rosés were chilled and awaiting our “delectation,” I decided it was high time for some research.

Winespeak 101

 
Flight (n.): A tasting of multiple wines in order to get a feel for breadth or depth and so named because it’s a grouping of similar objects.

 

As one of the few places in town where you can taste before you buy, Tastings offers a “build-your-own” flight (see Winespeak 101) of all its shades of pink. With 15 on deck (and my daughter already halfway through a piece of cake with ice cream), I had my work cut out for me. Fortunately, owner Bill Curtis takes great pleasure in sharing his wares with knowledge and passion. He methodically grouped my flight, presented each bottle for inspection, introduced each producer without qualifying the wines, left a spittoon and let me get busy.

The first three were all southern French, grenache-based wines. Domaine de L’Abbaye “Cuvée of the Moon” 2010 from Provence was the clearest rosé I’ve ever had, but surprisingly rich in texture. It sports a tall blue bottle and, according to Curtis, is “all the rage in Paris this summer.” Still, for $16.95, I wanted it to taste less like a Sauvignon Blanc and more like a rosé. Ma Couleur 2009, also from Provence and a dollar less than the first, was everything I love about rosé: stony, bright and gulp-able. Chateau de Paraza 2010 from Minervois (in the Languedoc) had a lip-smacking acidity and a friendly $12.95 price tag.

Next were two big boys from Bandol (the “is-it-worth-the-hype?” rosé-famed area of Provence) next to a couple of plain Provençals. Domaine Bunan’s Mas de la Rouvière Bandol 2010 tasted like flinty Ruby Red grapefruit (yum) and at $21.95 trumped the mustier Domaine Tempier Bandol 2010, which cost a whopping $45.95. Score. Domaine Houchart 2010 ($16.95) tasted like über-ripe strawberries. Domaine Bunan’s Le Petit Rouvière 2010 ($9.95) gives you a petit taste of its Bandol at a petit price, and was a pleasant surprise.

Things got spicy with the next two—both syrah, but one from Condrieu in France’s Rhône and one from Washington State. Domaine Georges Vernay Syrah “Rosé De Mirbaudie” 2010 ($16.95) asserted brambly fruit and white pepper. Charles & Charles Rosé 2010 announced its nationality with an American flag label then delivered BBQ-begging watermelon flavor for $13.95.

The next three—one Spanish garnacha and two California pinot noirs—were closer to chilled reds than rosés. Spain’s Borsao Rosé 2010 was all ripe black cherry for a mere $9.95. Copain Rosé 2010 from Healdsburg ($20.95) treats you to some of pricey Pinot’s charms (raspberries and mushrooms) in a more whimsical form. Central Coast’s Calera Vin Gris 2010 left me high and dry—literally, as the 14.5 percent alcohol level and extracted tannins were more than my palate wanted from a summer sipper. It would, as Curtis’s right-hand man Jason Smith remarked, make a great entrée wine for the non-red drinker.

Twelve down and I was tickled pink! Rocche Costamagna Rosé 2009 from Italy’s Piedmont region offered the same rose petal notes that its nebbiolo grape is known for and still tasted fresh with a year behind it—a steal at $9.95. Knipser Cuvée Rosé 2010, salmon in color, is from Germany of all places and was a $22.95 revelation. Low in alcohol (11.5 percent), herbaceous and delectably tart with a slight spritz on the tongue, it reminded me of Pez. I can’t stop thinking about it. Ending my flight of fancy was King Family Vineyards Crosé 2010 ($19.95). Made from merlot, it was woodsy yet thirst-quenching.

Spanning the entire pink spectrum, Tastings’ bouquet of rosés proved that while there were some rosés I could take or leave, there were others I had to take and leave with. I recommend you do the same while the summer swelters on.