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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
Generally, at some point during the growing season I will choose a parcel of the vineyard and designate it for the production of rosé. What I'm looking for is something with lower sugars, better acids, and most importantly, something interesting, something that will be different from the previous season, but not too different. In 2010 there were no parcels with low sugars. Everything was super ripe and continuously ripening without showing any signs of degradation.
What do we do then? We experiment. We produced rosé not only from Cabernet Franc, but also from Syrah and Mourvedré. We picked for our rosé pieces at varying degrees of ripeness, from many different parcels, in order to see what vast profile of flavors we could cover.
For a few weeks a considered bottling three separate rosé wines from the 2010 season, but my nearly invisible voice of marketing spoke up and convinced me not to. It was all blended together to produce a highly aromatic wine full of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry, with a nice crisp finish full of light spice and fruit.
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Varietal Definition
Cabernet Franc:
Cabernet Franc is an accessible, spicy, herbal, dark blue grape variety that is often compared to Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc tends to be softer and has less tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon, although the two can be difficult to distinguish. Sometimes the French refer to Cabernets, which could mean either of the two grapes. Its typical aromas include an herbaceous and pronounced peppery nose, even in ripe fruit, and something eerily like tobacco. The Cabernet Franc ripens at an earlier stage, which gives it reason to exist in the Bordeaux area. In the Loire, where we find it a lot, it gives a clear red fresh and fruity wine.
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Syrah:
Syrah is the eight hundred pound gorilla of Rhone grapes! In the vineyard and the winery, Syrah is typically an easy grape to work with - healthy, early ripening, resistant to mildew and rot; suitable for winemaking in a variety of styles. The wines from Syrah are tannic without being harsh. The wines will have a taste and smell of dark blue fruit like blackberries and blackcurrant, with a strong spicy side where one can find freshly ground pepper and other spices. Syrah is famous for its part in the French blends, such as Côtes du Rhone and Châteauneuf du Pape.
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Mourvedre:
As long as the weather is warm, Mourvedre ably tolerates a wide variety of soils. It is popular across the south of France, especially in Provence, where it is responsible for the greatness of Bandol, and many a fine red Cotes-du-Rhone. It is often blended in Chateauneuf-du-Pape; Languedoc makes it as a varietal. Spain uses it in many areas, including Valencia. In the United States, Mourvedre remains a minor factor for now, pursued by a few wineries that specialize in Rhone-style wines. The wine it produces can be quite pleasing, with medium weight, spicy cherry and berry flavors and moderate tannins. It ages well.
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