Arizona: 2009 Arizona Stronghold Dayden Rosé

The nice folks at Arizona Stronghold Winery sent me a bottle of their rosé as a sample back in the fall. I actually reviewed it in November. However, we’ve had a recent death in the family, in Arizona, so I thought I’d pull out some of the Arizona reviews and repost … it’s both in memory of Uncle Greg and in celebration of where we’ll be spending the upcoming weekend.

The 2009 Arizona Stronghold Dayden Cochise County Rosé is a blend of Zinfandel, Grenache, Sangiovese, Malbec, and Sauvignon Blanc from three different vineyard locations in Chochise County, Arizona.  They chose to make this rosé in the saignée style. Saignée is a method of rosé production that involves bleeding off the juice after limited contact with the skins. The juice only takes on a little of the color of the grape skins, due to the short time in which they had contact, leading to the pink color. The color is a nice medium-dark pink, nothing so peppy that you’ll be embarrassed to hold your glass in public. You can tell immediately that the wine has some heft.

The first thing we noticed was the rose petal nose. I hate saying that a rosé smells like roses, as it seems rather cliche, but there’s no denying that Kevin & I both got a floral aroma. The flavors are full of fruits and flowers, with some light strawberries wrapped in with some sour cherries and crushed flower petals. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but trust me. At only 11.9% AbV, this wine goes down fast and we powered through our bottle. It’s very balanced – you’re not overwhelmed by any one specific flavor or characteristic, and instead enjoy the entire delicate blend of flavors.

The Dayden has structure and heft – it’s not just a back-porch summertime rosé. The winery recommends pairing it with grilled vegetables, cold meats, and salads. I think we may have overchilled it, so that’s something you really need to watch with this one. While we enjoyed it right out of the fridge, it had a much sweeter finish when it was cold. As it warmed up a bit, it had a fuller, less sweet finish and we liked it even better. Definitely chill this wine, but you might want to pull it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you drink it, just to get it up to optimum temperature.

I was hoping this wine might go well with Thanksgiving dinner, and while it might pair nicely with the cranberry portion, I don’t know about the rest. However, it is probably the perfect wine to pull out when you’re having a cold turkey sandwich on Black Friday, after a long day of shopping in the crazy local mall.

You’re probably thinking I just reviewed a wine you need to fly to Arizona to get your hands on. Not true. Recently the good folks at Dep’s Fine Wines have started carrying Arizona Stronghold, so head over there and pick up a bottle for around $12.99.

Our score:

18 Responses to “Arizona: 2009 Arizona Stronghold Dayden Rosé”

1. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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2. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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3. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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4. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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5. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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6. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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7. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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8. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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9. Anonymous says:

   December 31, 1969 at 8:00 pm

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10. SusanRiceTruffe says:

    June 14, 2011 at 8:32 am

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11. DailyWineNews says:

    June 14, 2011 at 8:32 am

    Arizona: 2009 Arizona Stronghold Dayden Rosé: The nice folks at Arizona Stronghold Winery sent me a bottle of th… http://bit.ly/iVrjFH

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter
12. SusanRiceTruffe says:

    June 14, 2011 at 8:32 am

    Arizona: 2009 Arizona Stronghold Dayden Rosé: The nice folks at Arizona Stronghold Winery sent me a bottle of th… http://bit.ly/igNMb9

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter
13. michellelentz says:

    June 14, 2011 at 8:34 am

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14. WineReflector says:

    June 14, 2011 at 9:57 am

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15. tastingwine says:

    June 14, 2011 at 1:14 pm

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16. MyWineryGuides says:

    June 14, 2011 at 7:03 pm

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    June 15, 2011 at 10:18 am

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