2011 Rosé

It took me quite a while to come around to the actual making of a rosé, though the idea has been in my head for years.  For me, rosé is quite a balancing act in terms of wine.  It should have pretty aromatics, like a delicate white. It should have the mouthfeel of a fresh, young, gulpable red wine.  It should be very pleasing to the eye, not too dark.  And, it should be dry.

This is not so easy to achieve.  There are a lot of pretty bad rosés on the market, and many more mediocre ones.  Far too many are made using a method known as saignée, which means some juice is “bled” from tanks containing grapes for making red wine.  For me, it is a compromise which yields a clumsy sort of pink wine and takes away aromatics from the red wine, too.  The best way to do it, I think, is by directly pressing red grapes like a white wine.  Generally, my favorite rosés are made this way. 

The best rosés have that aforementioned balancing act down cold, as it were.  They are delightful to drink, either as something refreshing on a warm summer's day, or as part of a great meal.  A good rosé is a versatile wine with a lot of different foods.

So, after doing the brain exercises about this, I took the plunge in 2011.  This wine was made from grapes (2/3 syrah and 1/3 mourvèdre) specifically set aside for making this wine.  Picked at sugar and acid levels appropriate for a white wine, the grapes were foot crushed and pressed some 12 hours later. Fermentation was in tank and a few old barrels using ambient yeasts.  Malolactic fermentation occurred spontaneously, and lends a rounder, richer feeling to the wine.  Acid levels are just about perfect in my opinion.  Alcohol ended up at 12.7%.  It is dry, light in feeling, but substantial enough to work well with many foods, from roast chicken to thai to fish courses.  Drink nicely chilled over the summer, but save some for Thanksgiving, too. 

90 cases made.  Screwcap closure.  $16 per bottle.  Limit 4 bottles. Applicable sales tax and shipping extra.

2010 Syrah “sumu kaw”

The Sumu Kaw vineyard in El Dorado county's Pleasant Valley continues to offer stunning syrah grapes.  They embody everything I look for in syrah: lifted aromatics of pepper and herb, sleek blue/red fruit flavors, superb tannin/acid balance, and a welcome touch of meatiness.

This year turned out especially good, in spite of (or maybe because of?) the year's growing difficulties.  The syrah seemed to have skirted all of the “fun” events of the season – the snow, the rain, late heat, etc.- giving us some beautiful fruit to work with.  It is also a testament to the growers' skill (thank you Sheila and Dave!). 

The grapes were picked in early October and were fermented without destemming for 14 days in a single open top fermentor (yes, with ambient yeasts).  The grapes were foot crushed throughout the fermentation period, then basket pressed into old, thin-stave barrels to finish.  After about 1 year, the wine was racked into tank (its only racking), and 16% sumu kaw mourvedre was blended into the syrah to help flesh out the palate a little.  The wine was aged a further 7 months before bottling (and given a 15ppm dose of SO2 at bottling).

The resulting wine shows rather spirited herb and loamy soil aromas, with sage, pine needles and red cherries.  It is medium bodied with some meaty, smoky flavors, some tar, and present but smooth tannins.  Finishes with more herbs and cherry notes.  Not a shy wine, and it should gain in complexity over the next 3-6 months, and age for many years.  We recently tried both the 2008 and 2009 sumu kaw syrahs, and they are still very youthful.

210 cases made.  Screwtop closure.  $24 per bottle, or $230.40 per case of 12 bottles with case discount.  Applicable sales tax and shipping extra.

You may be able to find our wines at the following locations in California:

Domaine L.A., Arlequin Wine Merchant, Buzz Wine & Beer, Vintage Berkeley, Canyon Market, Chez Panisse, The Punchdown, Local Mission Eatery, Rainbow Grocery, Vineyard Gate, Passionfish, Mission Cheese, Salt’s Cure, Hidden Vine, The Wine House, Bar Covell, Bi-Rite Market, K&L Wine Merchants, Papilles, Gorbals, Jonathan Downtown Club, The Wine Lab, Sacramento Nature Foods Co-op, Barbacco, Fundamental LA, Gitane...

More are being added all the time...

Retailers: Please contact one of our distribution partners!

CA: Cleanskins Wine LLC / Amy Atwood

www.amyatwood.com

214.929.3699

NY: David Bowler Wine

www.bowlerwine.com

212.807.1680

(c) 2012 La Clarine Farm