| Vineyard and Winemaking Notes |
The challenges of the 2010 vintage severely limited our Sangiovese and Zinfandel grape production, which lead to a creative yet delicious blend for our 2010 Rosato. We picked Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and other grapes, such as Plavac Mali, from various parts of the vineyard in several small lots on five different days. From the first lot (mostly Syrah) we used only the free run juice. For the next two lots, we left the juice on the skins overnight—just long enough to extract a beautiful Rosato hue—then pressed the grapes the morning after they were crushed.
For the Cabernet Franc, we bled off freshly crushed juice, where the majority was slated for red wine. We fermented all the Rosato lots in small stainless steel tanks, with four different yeasts, and combined them before fermentation was complete. When the wine fermented to dryness, we racked it to seasoned oak barrels, where it aged for four months prior to bottling.
Although the various methods of crushing the grapes takes longer at a time of the year when we are always short of time, the reward of producing this full-flavored, refreshing rosé makes it worthwhile.
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P.O. Box 2061, Healdsburg, CA 95448 