Review: 2024 Varvaglione 1921 Susumaniello Rose

This Italian rosé arrives in the glass with a pale pink that feels less like a color and more like a lifestyle: polished, ready for Instagram, passive-aggressively smug about how well it photographs during the golden hour in Capri. The grape, Susumaniello, sounds like the name of a minor Roman bureaucrat forever resigned to making a humble living in the vineyards of Puglia. On the nose, aromas rush in like overzealous party guests eager to impress: raspberry, strawberry, cherry, each one elbowing the other aside to announce their arrival before rose petals stumble in fashionably late, spritzing the room with a mall-store 90s perfume nobody recalls with a nostalgic fondness. Acidity provides a bracing hit of lemon zest, and stone fruit strolls unhurried on the palate, with a slight note of apricot hanging back on the finish as everything else slowly evaporates.

It is incredibly approachable when chilled, designed to be sipped under a cabana while your phone screen blinds you with the sun’s reflection. However, beneath the surface, it carries a worthwhile amount of seriousness: a reminder rosé can carry weighted worth and complexity behind its somewhat maligned reputation for superficiality. It’s like a song heard on the radio initially dismissed as mindless pop: you’ll find yourself humming the tune hours later. This rosé hangs around with a fondness longer than publicly acceptable to admit.

B+ / $20

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