Rosato from the Veneto with Pasqua

Here in New England these last couple weeks we’ve really been sweating it out.  My kind of whether for white wine and especially rose’.  When our host, Lauren of the Swirling Dervish, chose the theme of featuring a “Rosato Roundup” my mind went in so many directions.  Many of Italy’s wine regions make some great rose’: Chiaretto from Lake Garda in the Veneto, Cerasuolo from Abruzzo, rose’ from Salento in Puglia and many more.  I recently tried the latest vintage of a wine called “11 Minutes” that is produced by the Pasqua winery in the Veneto.  I hadn’t tried this wine since I visited and traveled with the winery for a week back in 2017.   

For a deeper dive into my trip and about the Pasqua winery you can read my previous post “Mai Dire Mai: Never Say Never with Pasqua Wines”.  The Pasqua winery was started in 1925 by the Pasqua brothers.  Their native home was Puglia, but they established themselves and the winery in Verona.  As decades past and other generations of the family became involved in the business the company grew and in 2007 they relocated their headquarters to San Felice in Verona.

President, Umberto Pasqua

What I’ll never forget about this wine in particular, outside of the amazing hospitality including a dinner my first night with the President Umberto Pasqua, was that in 2017 it was the first release of this “11 Minutes” wine.  As you’ll see from my pictures they had the most creative and enchanting room located in the wine cellar created just for this release.  Mirrors all around the room with bottles of 11 Minutes hung from the ceilings.  It was fantastic!  

The Wine 

The blend of the latest 2019 Pasqua “11 Minutes” vintage includes 50% of Corvina, 25% Trebbiano di Lugana, 15% Syrah and 10% Carmenere.  Corvina is a native grape to the Veneto found primarily in the wines of Bardolino and the Valpolicella where Pasqua calls home.  

What’s behind the name 11 minutes?  It is the time dedicated for the skins to reside with the juice providing a pale salmon hue to the wine.  The grapes are grown on their own estate as well as purchased where Pasqua has full control over the vineyards.  

The 2019 Pasqua “11 Minutes” Rose’ Tre Venezie IGT was lightly pressed, spending 11 minutes in contact with the skins and juice before it spends 11 hours in a steel tank.  Following fermentation this wine spends 3-4 months on the lees for additional complexity.  It’s released to market January after harvest.  With raspberries and strawberries at the core, this wine is light and refreshing with juicy acidity.  Beautifully enclosed with a glass topper.  The shape of the bottle is non-traditional, a uniquely shaped oval bottle. Due to it’s proximity to Verona, a number of Pasqua’s wines are named after lovers like Romeo & Juliet.  As Pasqua states, this bottle portrays Lesbia, a mistress of Catullus’, whom Catullus’ dedicated his poem to found on the bottle “Odi et Amo” meaning “I hate and I love”.  Well for me, this bottle is quite enjoyable and a perfect and refreshing summer sipper. ABV 12.5% SRP $20. 

I opened it last weekend at my son’s 4th birthday alongside a pesto dip passed down to me from an Italian relative made of homemade pesto from my garden, cream cheese and lots of butter.  It’s addicting, but not good for the waistline.

There is still plenty of rose' to be discovered around Italy with my fellow Italian wine and food loving friends.  If you catch us in time we'll be chatting live on Twitter this Saturday at 11am EST at #ItalianFWT.  See you there!

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*This wine was provided as a sample, but opinions are all my own.