Okay, how could you not pick this wine for Valentine’s Day? The name has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but there should be no miscommunication between you and your date. I’ve wanted to carry this wine at work for a long time, just to hear my co-workers say things like, “The chef recommends Sex tonight,” or, “Have you tried Sex? It’s really good.” It’s the joke that never ends.
Beyond the silly immaturity of it all, I’ve wanted to carry a Michigan wine for a while now. It’s easy to look past wines produced in a majority of the United States, most wine press give their attention to what’s produced on the West Coast. As a consequence, people tend to think the local soil and climate are incapable or producing quality wine. It’s a misconception that benefits the established regions and makes it that much harder for the pioneering local winemaker.
Despite all that, Michigan has a growing reputation for producing quality wine, particularly Riesling. I haven’t had a lot of wine from from the state, but nothing so far has disappointed me. Before the site overhaul last summer, I previously had a review of a Riesling from Left Foot Charley that I enjoyed, but of all the Michigan producers, I’ve dealt with Mawby the most.
For about a year we were selling a sparkling wine from this same line, M. Lawrence Green, at the Chopping Block. I even wrote a blog about it on the company site, encouraging people to try local wines. When I heard they had a sparkling rosé called Sex, I knew I wanted to try it… after all, I’ve heard really good things about it.
Mawby vineyards founder, Larry Mawby, planted his first grapes in the mid-seventies. Growing up on a farm, he always knew he would be working in agriculture to some degree. While traveling through Europe, he was inspired by the vineyards and wine of Burgundy in France. Upon returning home, he set his mind to producing wine in his home state of Michigan. Today Mawby is a small vineyard that produces Pinot Noir, Vignoles, Pinot Gris, Regent, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier. They also supplement their harvest by acquiring additional grapes from other vineyards in Michigan, Washington, and California, which is a pretty common practice, though Mawby seems more transparent about it than most vineyards.
According to their website, the M.Lawrence line of wines is an artistic endeavor to express music through wine. Sex is described as a “Fleshy Top-40 Rosé.” It seems pretty obvious to me that if sex was music it would sound like Bill Withers, but I guess everyone has their own opinion.
The wine is a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Muscat. There’s some great red fruit flavors and enough playful effervescence to make the wine fun, but where it really stood out was in the range of textures I experienced while drinking it, in the beginning it seemed fibrous and juicy like biting into an apple, by the finish it was more dry and mineral. The best word I can use to describe this wine is “Sensual,” literally gratifying to all my senses, which may be the brilliance of naming it Sex.
If you keep track of my blogging, you may recall that I also recommended a sparkling rosé for Thanksgiving. What can I say? It’s a fun style of wine, that’s inoffensive, and food friendly. Plus, how can you pass up on recommending people have Sex for Valentine’s Day. Just call me Cupid… or maybe Dionysus.