Some people point to Shakespeare’s celebrated line from “Romeo and Juliet” as one of the most famous instances when a rose is invoked to express love and passion.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.

But the rose’s long association with romance goes back much further.

In fact, we have to reach back to the 13th-century French allegorical poem known as the Róman de la Rose or Romance of the Rose.

At the outset of this story of courtly love, the narrator tells us:

If anyone asks what I wish the romance to be called, which I begin here, it is the Romance of the Rose, in which the whole art of love is contained. Its matter is good and new; and God grant that she for whom I have undertaken it may receive it with grace. It is she who is so precious and so worthy to be loved that she should be called Rose.

Since the Middle Ages, the rose and the color of the rose have been associated with romance.

It’s no wonder that our Valentine’s Day celebrations are always rose-hued!

What will you be drinking on Valentine’s Day this year?

For your consideration: Wine Spectator’s “BEST VALUE SPARKLING” — Lini Lambrusco Rosé.