A fun and unique rose from Nelson County, VA (Monticello AVA) made by Riaan Rossouw & Rachel O’Neill. The grapes were farmed sustainably, employing organic methods. No synthetic pesticides and no herbicides were used on them. They were hand harvested.
The blend is a mystery … here’s the quote from the tech sheet: “No one ever asked Dali what type of paint he used…a blend of vinifera (Mourvedre, Grenache, etc.), hybrids, crosses, and forgotten varieties. The focus here is on vineyard site and vintage, rather than on grape variety and clonal selection.” With that in mind, this single vineyard is Gneiss soils on the Southern slopes of Nelson County.
All the grapes are harvested on the same day and undergo a 24-hour whole cluster pre-fermentation maceration in an open top stainless-steel fermenter. The whole clusters are lightly trodden by foot at the beginning of the maceration. After 24 hours of skin contact, the grapes are pressed and the juice is transferred to a stainless tank for fermentation. Warm fermentation (77-82.5 degrees F) with no added So2, no enzymes, and no lab yeasts occurs. This warmer fermentation allows both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation to happen almost simultaneously.
It is aged for 9 months in stainless and is bottled by hand with no fining or filtration. It is bottled with 2ppm of So2.
This is beautiful, big fruity nosed rose. On the palate, it is like a gummy fruit with wild strawberry and red fruit notes. A surprisingly light and easy to drink rose that shows the brilliance of well-made Virginia wine!
Super low production! Very limited.
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