You may have noticed Kim Crawford’s snazzy Pansy! Rosé on Vintages shelves over the past couple weeks, even though it was not featured in any recent LCBO Vintages catalogues. What’s up with that? Well, Pansy has been launched ‘quietly’ (shhhh!) as a bit of an insider’s wine, just in time for Spring. Believe me, Spring is coming soon, and this lovely, dry rosé wine from one of New Zealand’s leading producers provides a great preview.
Indeed, Kim Crawford returns with one of their originals which helped start it all back in the 90s. As one of the most successful roses from the New World in Vintages, let’s take a look at what consumers and experts alike have found to love about Pansy! Rosé.
First, a little history. Kim Crawford Wines started out in a small Auckland cottage in New Zealand. Since its launch in 1996, the label has gained critical acclaim around the globe, including its current position as the #1 NZ Sauvignon Blanc in Canada, and the #1 selling white wine at the LCBO. However, in those early days, founders Kim and Erica Crawford had to work doubly hard to gain success. Built from the ground up, Pansy! Rose was created for Kim and Erica’s friends on Ponsonby Road in Auckland, in part as an acknowledgement of their support and friendship.
If you’ve ever been to New Zealand, you’ll understand why this style of rose is so suitable. Auckland can be warm and humid in the summertime. Combine that weather with a strong local foodie culture, and a dry rose with intensity of flavour and balanced build makes for an ideal sipping AND dinner wine.
Pretty in pink: no, not a 1980s movie starring Molly Ringwald, but a perfect descriptor for Pansy! Rose. 2014 was another exceptionally good growing season, after the ‘Vintage of a Lifetime‘ in 2013. Kim Crawford’s Hawke’s Bay merlot grapes were harvested, destemmed, and gently crushed direct to press with minimal skin contact. Pansy! Rose has a vibrant, medium color despite having little time on the skins. The clarified juice was cool fermented with selected yeast strains to retain their primary varietal characteristics, in a true new world idiom.
I know you will taste Spring in a glass with every sip of Kim Crawford’s Pansy! Rose. Go out and get some at VINTAGES.
Yours truly,
Eugene Mlynczyk,
Constellation Brands
Constellation Brands is a Good Food Fighter. Please support the businesses and organizations that support Good Food Revolution.
It is well known that Kim Crawford got his start by exploiting the non existent wine laws in New Zealand at the time. The demand for Sauvignon Blanc was exploding and there simply was not enough. So Kym being a good capitalist bottled Chardonnay Pinot Gris what ever white he could find and sold it as Sauvignon Blanc.
The wine laws have been changed but the facts remain.
I have visited the industrial park where this wine is manufactured.
Avoid like the plague.