Dry Rosé
Dry Rosé, 2020

Winemaker's Notes

Due to both vineyard restructuring and the 2020 Walbridge fire, we lost most of the Syrah we normally use for this wine. Fortunately, it happened early enough in the harvest season that I was able to adapt on the fly and pick a less advanced section of our ‘Hill’ Zinfandel to balance the Grenache in the manner that Syrah has done these last years. Having worked with Zinfandel as a Rosé wine beginning in 1997, I had a pretty clear image of what the result would be and how it would fit into this wine., We did have a tiny bit of Syrah to use which was given moderate skin contact overnight before pressing to guide this blend right into our typical stylistic pocket, which by the way, is of great personal importance! It’s good to have a little practice at this. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Nice, floral, red plum and cherry, hibiscus tea, very brisk acidity, it is highly mouth-watering (like a sparkling wine) yet has a very long finish. Despite the varietal composition differences, the net result is remarkably similar to the past few vintages. There’s a tiny bit more floral note and more of the kind of acidity one would see in a sparkling rosé. Still, bone-dry and refreshing as ever, I am immensely happy with the result and may continue in this direction moving forward as we see the wine develop over the next two or so years.