Klean Rose
Klean Rose
Rose / Klean Low / 9%
A low calorie Rose with full flavor! Only 85 calories per serving, it is an easy choice for wine lovers looking to make healthier drinking choices without sacrificing quality. Flavors of ripe red berries and balanced citrus acidity. Live Klean, drink Klean!
Rose, in my sphere at least, has something of a dubious reputation. Many people think that it is an overly sweet varietal reserved for bachelorette parties or summer days among those who don’t have a discerning tongue and just want something that’s easy to drink. I find this generalization unearned in some ways. A Rose can be a beautiful crisp, even sometimes dry, wine that is suitable for any number of occasions. I do think that it is a great candidate for a low-alcohol low-calorie wine. To me, it is true that Rose is best enjoyed while the sun is out, and it’s often so drinkable that a whole bottle is gone before you know it. What you don’t want to be doing throughout that day is filling yourself up on extra calories and sugar. Winemakers like Klean have stepped in.
Klean makes four varieties of low-calorie wine that each clock in at nine percent alcohol by volume and just 85 calories per five-ounce serving. Their Rose tallies just three grams of carbohydrates per serving and one gram of residual sugar per liter. You can be sure that sipping on Klean Rose all day at a cookout will be healthier than if you were drinking a traditional wine. We could all stand to live a little bit healthier and clean up what we are putting into our bodies. Through this Klean Rose review, I intend to find out if this wine lives up to its name, while still satisfying the taste buds. I will be sampling the 2020 version.
Klean Rose Review
This is the third variety of wine that Klean offers that I have sampled, and so far I have been impressed with the complexity of their flavor profiles. So my hopes are fairly high for this one, and my standards may be a little elevated as well. I am also a big fan of their aesthetic. True to their name, bottles of Klean have a simple white label with the brand name running vertically in negative space that reveals the color of the wine behind it.
There isn’t much else present on the front of the label, aside from the low calorie count, clearly designed to catch the customer’s eye. The back side of the label has a little more nutritional information and also contains some tasting notes. I do my best to ignore these so they don’t taint my own evaluation.
In the bottle, as well as poured into a glass, this Rose isn’t the brightest pink, nor the most crisp. There is a bit of a faint orange or yellow haze to the liquid, which evokes a sense of late afternoon rather than midday.
There are a fair amount of bubbles on the pour, but most of them dissipate rather quickly with just a few lingering around the edges. I typically find the brighter pink Roses to be more appealing, but I don’t know if that really means anything when it comes to flavor.
The aroma is powerful, and what hits me the most is a tart scent, reminiscent of green apples. It’s a surprising aroma to find in a Rose and actually reminds me a bit of their Pinot Grigio. There are also some faint floral scents present and not much in the way of sweetness. I suppose a reduction in calories and low sugar content results in drier wine, so that is what I expect from this one.
While the tart apple on the nose is not what I expected, it is still pleasant, and the strength of it, while not overwhelming, ensures me that this wine will not lack for flavor. But there is no way to find out for sure and answer the question “Is Klean Rose good?” other than taking the first sip.
Is Klean Rose Good?
The first thing that I notice on the tongue is that the tartness does indeed come through, although it is not as dominant as it was on the nose, and it moves away from the green apple aroma toward more of a red berry flavor. I can’t nail down the exact berry that I get the most, raspberry maybe?
There aren’t a ton of other distinguishable flavors that jump out to me. I sense a bit of oak underlying the tartness. There is a faint hit of citrus that is again tough to nail down, but it strikes me as maybe pear or banana.
It might sound like that tart berry overwhelms the entire tasting experience, but this isn’t really the case. It settles onto the tongue nicely, and I find the crisp nature of it to be very important.
The body is on the lighter side, as is usually the case with Rose. The mouthfeel is dry, though not as much as the scent led me to believe it would be, and a good amount of acidity comes through on the finish. Perhaps this is more of a personal preference thing, but I really enjoy that acidity, especially when it ends with a sharp finish like this one does.
There is a touch of sweetness that is probably unavoidable with this style of wine. I don’t mind it, and in fact I think the level of its presence is quite suitable and balances out that dry acidity.
This wine wasn’t exactly what I was anticipating, but how will that play into my final Klean Rose rating?
Klean Rose Rating
From the golden hint of color to the tartness on the nose to the followthrough on the tasting, this Rose has a few surprises to it. The good news is that all of them work well for the most part. If tartness isn’t your thing, then perhaps this isn’t the perfect wine for you. But I personally enjoy the way the acidity dances in your mouth before finishing sharply and preparing you for the next sip. The complexity of the flavor profile doesn’t seem to suffer at all from the reduction in alcohol content and calories.
I must conclude this Klean Rose review by awarding it 4 out of 5 stars. It is a perfectly drinkable Rose that doesn’t overpower with sweetness like many of its kind. A great refreshing sipper for anyone looking to limit their calorie intake.
Photos Credit: https://www.totalwine.com/
