Wine Wednesday: Taste the Rainbow
On Wednesdays, we taste the rainbow (at Perquín).
Adam and I hosted another Wine Wednesday night at Perquín, featuring all the multi-faceted colors of wine in honor of Pride Month.
Celebrated every June, Pride Month honors the LGBTQIA+ community and commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a catalyst for the modern queer rights movement. Symbolized by the rainbow flag created by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978, Pride is both a joyful celebration of identity, resilience, inclusion, and a powerful reminder of the work still ahead. Each color of the flag reflects a facet of queer life, making it a powerful emblem of both joy and ongoing resistance. It is a month to uplift queer voices, recognize hard-won progress, and stand in solidarity with love, authenticity, and liberation for all.
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THE CONCEPT
Perquín is an intimate Honduran restaurant where vibrant flavors meet smooth rhythms, making it the perfect locale to pour curated tasting flights with wines paired to echo the spirit of inclusivity and the warmth of the food. A lovely evening for sipping and savoring this fun ROY G. BIV spectacle, indeed!
To showcase a wide range of styles, I opted for wines from five different countries with different varietal compositions in the full spectrum of colors (white, orange, rosé, red), with one of the red wines informally representing blue and purple as a result of its composition (more on this shortly). Thanks again for helping me navigate ZRS’s portfolio, Adam!
We kicked off with a sparkling wine (a color I would describe as iridescent) made in the traditional method (i.e., same as Champagne) from Slovakia with Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Gris, and Moravian Muscat. After, we headed southwest to Italy’s Umbria for a white wine of Grechetto then looped back toward Burgenland in Austria for a skin-contact (orange!) Gemischter Satz blend of local varieties, where no single grape may account for more than 50% of the blend and the third grape for at least 10%.
We returned to Italy for a frizzante rosé of Lambrusco (yay pink!) from Emilia-Romagna then headed toward the Atlantic to Spain for a Burgundian-style Pinot Noir from Andalucía. Finally, we concluded in France for a Provençal red blend, which captured the remaining colors of blue, indigo, and violet through its composition of Mourvèdre (blackberry for blue), Cinsault (violet for violet), and Grenache (plum for indigo). As for the final color of green, all of these wines were made with thoughtful agriculture, so that will be its representative!
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THEMED FLIGHTS
OPTION No. 1: The Express
Great choice for getting the “highlights” from the full wine offerings. Plus, some agency in your choices of all the colors.
1 × sparkling white from Slovakia or sparkling rosé from Italy
2 × choices of still white from Italy, still orange from Austria, or still red from Spain
OPTION No. 2: The Sunburst
This flight showcases a “sunburst” of colors from European vignerons.
1 × sparkling white from Slovakia
1 × still white from Italy
1 × still orange from Austria
OPTION No. 3: The Phoenix
For those wanting to explore an ombré-colored “phoenix” flight found in these skin-contact wines from all over Europe.
1 × sparkling rosé from Italy
1 × still orange from Italy
1 × still red from Spain
OPTION No. 4: The Full Monty
Completionists will appreciate this option to try ’em all!
1 × sparkling white from Slovakia
1 × still white from Italy
1 × still orange from Austria
1 × sparkling rosé from Italy
1 × still red from Spain
BONUS: Flight Upgrade
Since this option has been popular during the last two Wine Wednesday evenings, we wanted to offer another interesting wine — a red blend highlighting “blue and purple” fruit — as either a flight upgrade or by-the-glass.
1 × still red from France
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THE MENU
Another solid menu at Perquín for Wine Wednedsay, with chicken tinga tostadas being a crowd favorite of the evening. Also, new seasonal ensalada and ceviche paired really well with the scintillating wine flights for Taste the Rainbow. Forever favorites for me are always the pollo chuco and taco árabe.
THE WINEUP
Naboso 2023 ‘Opera’ Sparkling Wine
Zev Rovine Selections (New York) | 🇸🇰 sparkling white
Müller-Thurgau / Pinot Gris / Moravian Muscat
GREEN ・ Prosecco aromatics with Champagne sensibilities ・ acacia aged
Montemelino 2023 Colli del Trasimeno ‘Grechetto’
Zev Rovine Selections + SelectioNaturel (New York) | 🇮🇹 still white
Grechetto
YELLOW ・ apricot skins ・ fresh & fleshy
Judith Beck 2023 Gemischter Satz ‘Mish Mash’
Zev Rovine Selections (New York) | 🇦🇹 still orange
Grüner Veltliner / Neuburger / Pinot Blanc / Welschriesling / Rotburger / Scheurebe / others
ORANGE ・ fresh cut florals ・ light effervescence
Sebastian Van de Sype 2023 Rosato dell’Emilia Frizzante
Zev Rovine Selections (New York) | 🇮🇹 sparkling rosé
Lambrusco Grasparossa / Trebbiano Modenese
(PINK) ・ white strawberry ・ Lambrusco lite
Raúl Moreno 2021 Cádiz Tinto ‘La Quimera’
Zev Rovine Selections (New York) + Selections de la Viña (New York) | 🇪🇸 still red
Pinot Noir
RED ・ earthy elegance ・ cool warmth
Château Sainte-Anne 2022 Côtes de Provence Rouge
Zev Rovine Selections (New York) | 🇫🇷 still red
Mourvèdre / Cinsault / Grenache
BLUE, INDIGO, + VIOLET ・ rich & robust ・ al fresco cookout
THE CODA
Another gorgeous evening collaborating with Adam and Bryan — this slight cooldown of a Wednesday (especially after last week’s wild heat wave 🥵) made possible by Perquín’s badass team (shoutout to JP and Walter), familiar faces (always pumped to pour for my Jersey City wine crew 🫶), as well as new folks — all super open to trying new wines. I leaned into how much guests enjoy an abstract theme, for which there was enthusiastic feedback over our selections, flight format, and pairing inspirations — even one as simple as the colors of the rainbow. This color spectrum of wine selections paired amazingly with Bryan’s awesome menu.
We celebrated Pride Month with a tasting as colorful as the rainbow, pouring wines to match each hue of the Pride flag. From radiant reds to iridescent whites and a shimmering pink, each glass honored the diversity, joy, and community that Pride represents. Thank you to everyone who came to toast love in every color with us! ️🌈
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Cheers,
Stefie aka ‘Two Bottle Stef’ 💁🏻♀️✌️🍾
What a fabulous lineup and a way to introduce the community to some incredible wines. Wish I was there, truly sounds delightful. Gotta track down some of these bottles where I am...Happy Pride everyday!!! 🌈