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Our 2016 Rosato is an exotic beauty this year. Because it’s dominated by Zinfandel rather than by Sangiovese, it pumps out aromas of guava, lychee, and rose petals rather than the more typical blood orange or wild strawberry.
The mouth is creamy, rich, and clean, and perhaps because it was aged on its lees in oak, it has the yeasty finish of a fine Blanc de Noir.
2016 gave us yet another beautiful vintage in the Napa Valley. Marked by a few late season heat spells, the wines are as opulent as the 2012’s with the concentration of the 2014’s. Our Rosato represents a preview of the wines to follow. Each year, the varietal composition of our Rosato varies. It may appear that we simply can’t make up our minds on how to make this wine, but I can assure you that it is a deliberate process. How much juice is drawn from a given batch of grapes is based entirely on the size of the berries. The best red wines are generally made from small berries, where the ratio of skin to juice is highest. When a particular batch of fruit comes in with rather large berries (which varies by clone, by vintage, and by variety), the skin to juice ratio can be corrected by simply removing a portion of juice immediately from the crushed fruit. This juice is drawn off batch by batch and put into small stainless steel tanks, where it ferments at a very low temperature to produce the most aromatic, delicately fruity and floral “white wine.” It just happens to contain a bit of color from the very brief contact time with the skins. A Rosé wine is the perfect thing to sip on a hot day, when serving a variety of appetizers, or when you’re mulling over a menu trying to figure out what to order.
7 months in used Hungarian oak
