Summer. Specifically, the dog days of August. The swampy humidity has given way to perfect warm (but not too warm) weather.
It's dinnertime, and Nicoise salad is on the menu.
The ideal wine is usually rose ... but not this one.
The Barton & Guestier Rose D'Anjou (2010) is about as cloying as they come. Sweet wine makes my skin crawl, and this one was simply over the top. I don't recoil at sweetness in other forms; bring on the cake and ice cream, I say. But wine is a different story.
(It reminds me of a trip to the South; we were in Little Rock, I think, and the choices of bottled iced tea at the grocery store included sweet and extra sweet.)
Verdict: To be avoided unless you like your wine to give you sugar shock.
