Play that funky...wine?

I'm standing in front of my favorite wine section (rose) at my favorite wine store, deciding if I want to stick with the tried and true -- and easy (screw caps), when a perky, young saleswoman asks if I need help.

I say I'm fine and continue studying the choices, which at this particular store are prolific compared to other stores. They must have at least 20 different rose wines. Only specialty stores really delve deep into the rose wines... even though everyone is writing about the virtues of a good rose. Go figure.

I guess I was lingering a bit too long, because before long, perky girl comes back and says "do you want to try a really funky, fabulous rose?" How can you say no to that pitch? Of course I want to try a really funky, fabulous rose. So she leads me to another aisle, featuring South African wines and picks up a bottle of Mulderbosch rose, 2007.

"And it's only 10 bucks!" she gushes, as she proceeds to tell me that she featured it at tasting the week before and everyone loved the wine, picking up on the whole South African terrior. OK, I bite. "What's the whole South African terrior," I say.

"It's kinda earthy, musty, you know, funky," she says, using her hands, arms and body in a back and forth swaying motion to drive home the point. Uh huh, I say. So I bought it. Now I'm sipping it and trying to pick up on the earthy, musty, you know, funky thing.

I'm getting the funky part. It's tangy, almost sour, like grapefruit, with a very dry finish. After a sip or two my mouth wants to pucker. I don't taste the traditional strawberry or cherry notes common in many roses. It's not bad, but it doesn't quite stack up to my fav five I wrote about in a post a few months ago.

Still, it's lively and goes great with the goat cheese and olive tapenade snack I whipped up to eat along with it. "Funky" is an appropriate descriptor. And, it's only 10 bucks.