Embrace the dark side

Labor Day has come and gone, but like so many wine lovers, we're still sipping rosé.

Not the summer-water, pale-pink, Provence-style bottles that were perfect day-drinking during August heat waves. No, fall is the time to embrace the other side of rosé: darker, more serious wines that glow with vivid tones of coral, pomegranate, fuchsia. Typically, they have more intense and complex fruit flavors, richer textures, and, yes, even the structure to age.

Rosés from Tavel, in France's southern Rhône Valley, are noted for their deep watermelon color.

Source: Vendors

If these deeper colors have you thinking "plonk," think again. This darker style of rosé has a history and tradition centuries old, whereas the fashion for super, super pale rosé was born in the mid-1980s.

The dirty little secret behind that pale color is the refrigeration of grapes to prevent oxidation (which can turn the color orange-y) and various fining agents to lighten it, from pea protein to widely used polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP), a form of polymer forbidden in organic wine by the EU. Technological advances such as sterile filtration permitted new styles as well.

Although rosé has gotten lighter over the years, it's a myth that a paler hue indicates a more sophisticated wine.

Photographer: GERARD JULIEN/AFP

Thus the myth grew that the lighter the hue, the more sophisticated the pink wine, helped along by clear glass bottles to show off the liquid inside and recorded in countless Instagram posts. Provence's research facility, the Centre du Rosé, determined that color intensity in rosé declined by more than half from 2006 to 2018.

Rosé didn't even start in Provence, though those pinks may get all the attention. The first French region dedicated exclusively to rosé is Tavel, in the southern Rhône Valley just north of Avignon, where wines are noted for their deep watermelon color. They were favorites of Louis XIV, and in the 20th century, Hemingway liked to knock back glasses of the stuff with oysters.

Abruzzo in Italy is a hotspot for darker rosé wines.

Photographer: wanderluster/E+

Other dark rosé hot spots are Central Italy's Abruzzo region, long known for its cerasuolo d'Abruzzo (cerasuolo means cherry in Italian, and the wines have the color to match), Spain's Rioja, Greece's Peloponnesus, the Republic of Georgia, and more.

Darker color partly reflects the grape variety used and partly winemaking methods. Wine color, as you probably already know, comes from a grape's skin, and you can make pink wines in several ways. Quickly pressing the juice from the grapes and separating it, as you would for a white wine, results in a very pale color. If you macerate the juice with grape skins before pressing, on the other hand, it will pick up pigment but also additional flavor and tannin. How much will depend on how long the contact lasts. (We're talking four to 16 hours here for deeper pinks; red wines, for example, may be in contact for weeks.)

2019 Prima Materia Barbera and Aglianico Rosé "Cerasuolo" ($25) from Lake County, California. A 50/50 blend of two grapes with dark-colored skins, it's crisp and bright, as well as lushly fruity.

Source: Vendor

Southern French winemakers call these darker wines rosé d'assiette, meaning rosé to go with meals. Surely, that's why they've recently gained buzz with sommeliers, something our wine critic Elin McCoy discovered while judging more than 200 restaurant wine lists last week for the London-based magazine World of Fine Wine annual competition.

You can pair them with everything from Korean barbecue to steak tacos to spicy paella. Click through for nine bottles to seek out to see for yourself.

2020 Tiberio Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo ($20) and 2020 Bonavita Rosato Terre Siciliane ($21) both have the deep cherry color typical of Italy.

Source: Vendors

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The arrival landscaping at the new Mandarin Oriental in LA.

Source: DBOX

When Mandarin Oriental's Beverly Hills, Calif., property opens in mid-2022, guests will be able to show up with their luggage and have a bellman escort them up a private elevator to a penthouse with its own attended lobby and six-car garage.

On the deck of a rooftop pool lined with white-curtained cabanas, they'll be able to enjoy some Mediterranean-inspired twist on eggs Benedict designed by chef Daniel Boulud, who's also new to LA. And the concierge will be equally well versed in local dog grooming outfits and the best new restaurants in the area—which hasn't seen significant real estate development like this in a decade.

But there's a catch: you won't be able to rent a room.

A bonsai garden planned for the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Beverly Hills.

Source: DBOX

Instead the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Beverly Hills will be condos-only, with 54 apartments across a glassy new 323,000-square-foot, seven-story structure at 9200 Wilshire that sprawls over a full city block.

The residences, which open for exclusive private previews this month and start at $3.6 million for a 1,200-square-foot, 1-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment, represent the first standalone condo project for the Hong Kong-based hospitality brand.

Mandarin has latched onto a trend in which luxury outfits, including Montage and Ritz-Carlton, have gone full tilt into residential real estate to drum up big revenue amid the high costs and thin margins of building and running hotels. The building's two penthouses, each with their own lobby, elevator, garage, and staff, will cost up to $40 million.

A rendering of the rooftop pool.

Source: DBOX

"This is one of the most highly sought-after markets that Mandarin has been trying to get into," says Todd Ruff, director of residences for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, of the Beverly Hills location. "But there were constraints we had to deal with, and while we're still searching for a hotel in LA, this was entitled as a residential building so we went ahead with that."

"What we're creating is a stress-free lifestyle, where you will be taken care of whether you are spending three days a month or 30," says real estate developer Michael Shvo, who bought the vacant lot in 2019 and negotiated the deal with Mandarin Oriental. "This is where the luxury world is going."

The new construction going up at 9200 Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

Source: DBOX

"Ultimately it doesn't matter how much money you have, it's your headache when something goes wrong in your home," he argues. Unless, of course, you're not the one staffing and maintaining it.

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On a rapidly evolving stretch of East 57th Street in Manhattan, between the gleaming Vacheron Constantin boutique and the under-major-renovation Tiffany & Co. flagship, a towering new watch emporium has just opened: Bucherer 1888 TimeMachine.

The three-story space is the first step in introducing the Bucherer 1888 brand to the U.S., which brings together the well-known-in-Europe Bucherer Group and Tourneau retail chain, which it purchased in 2018.

The dazzling new Bucherer 1888 TimeMachine boutique.

Source: Bucherer

Front and center in the new store is the Bucherer Blue concept. The brand partners with everything from car companies to watch brands to create products showcasing Bucherer's signature blue, which are available for sale only in Bucherer boutiques.

The current showstopper is a blue metallic, one-of-a-kind Harley-Davidson in the store's lobby, said by Bucherer to be the "most valuable motorcycle in the world" at 1.888 million Swiss francs ($2.05 million). It features diamonds on the handlebars and blue sapphires on the brakes. Past collaborations have included a Lamborghini Aventador S and several exceptional jewelry pieces.

The lower level features the Bucherer Blue timepieces.

Source: Bucherer

Bucherer Blue timepieces have been made since 2016, but until now were available only in Europe. For their grand entrance into the American market, Bucherer released more than 27 watches, including several that are available only in the U.S.

Each is from a unique collection that either reflects Bucherer's signature blue color or offers materials or designs not used by the individual brands before.

Here are five boutique exclusives that are worth a browse.

Source: Carl F. Bucherer

The Carl F. Bucherer brand released the Bucherer Blue Heritage Bicompax Annual watch with a gradient blue dial on the front and a striking etching of the New York City skyline on the case back. Just 30 pieces of this U.S.-exclusive watch will be made. ($7,200)

Source: Breitling

The new Breitling Navitimer Chronograph 41 Bucherer Blue watch boasts a color not previously created by Breitling: an azure blue. This chronograph with slide rule bezel that can be used by pilots to measure fuel and distance is a U.S. exclusive. ($7,250)

Source: Jaeger-LeCoultre

A truly classic vision, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Bucherer Blue watch is crafted in 18-karat rose gold with rose-gold-hued applied arrow stick markers and rose gold hands against a striking blue gradient dial. ($15,800)

Source: IWC

For a truly sporty appeal, IWC offers the Big Pilot's Big Date watch in stainless steel with bright light-blue markers, numerals, and hands against a dark dial. Even the subsidiary seconds dial and the date indication are in blue. ($14,700)

Source: Piaget

For women, the Piaget Possession Bucherer Blue watch is crafted in gold, set with diamonds, and features a white mother-of-pearl dial with blue cabochon sapphires as markers. The Possession also has a rotating inner bezel. ($18,400)

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