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Special Release – 2020 Rosé
| Special Release: 2020 Rosé, Save the Date for Spring Release |
| We are pleased to announce the release of the new 2020 Rosé! An earlier harvest in 2020 meant we could bottle this wine a few weeks earlier than last year. Interest in the Rosé is always high, but with our sunny (but cool) winter and the promise of reopening, the excitement is at an all time high. Luckily, we think the wine justifies it. Get some soon. Details below. Special Release: 2020 Rosé, Santa Ynez Valley 91% Grenache, 9% Graciano 56% Two Wolves Vineyard, 44% Vogelzang Vineyard 13.0% ABV The Vintage It goes without saying that 2020 was a challenge on almost all levels. From the winemaking standpoint, 2020 was shaping up to be an exceptional year for wine grapes, very cool and consistent, except for some shatter due to cool weather and wind during set. Nonetheless, until late July, we were highly optimistic. Then in mid-August, came the first in a series of massive heat waves. Fortunately, our careful farming and ability to act quickly on a moment’s notice allowed us to harvest in between heat waves and to avoid the negative effects of the heat. We carefully picked our five separate lots for Rosé under good conditions while fruit integrity was fully intact. In addition, Santa Barbara was largely spared the fires and smoke taint suffered almost everywhere else in the West. We could almost call 2020 the miracle vintage in Santa Barbara. Seemingly it was for us, even though it took a lot more work than in past years. We are just pleased to have been able to make terrific wines despite the challenges. The Wine As you will note, the 2020 version of this long-time favorite sports the Santa Ynez Valley appellation. This is because the Two Wolves vineyard, which is located right on the border of Happy Canyon, decided not to join in the newer appellation. So it goes with political boundaries. But no matter, the wine is just as good as last year when it was a Happy Canyon Rosé. Perhaps even better. Time will tell. One new thing in 2020 was the addition of Graciano (9%) from the Two Wolves Vineyard. Graciano, which is typically blended into the wines of Rioja (Spain) is well known for its bright fruit and terrific acidity, which we thought would be perfect for an energetic, driving style of dry Rosé. We were right! The rest of the Rosé (91%) is Grenache, roughly half from Vogelzang and half from Two Wolves. The wine was fermented in a combination of roughly one third each stainless steel, neutral barrels of various sizes (228L, 400L, 500L) and concrete. After complete dryness the wine was transferred to neutral oak barrels and aged for 5 months on the lees, before bottling. The wine shows expressive bright red fruits, (strawberries & raspberries) along with watermelon and green apple jolly rancher, with citrus peel and super bright acidity. We think it is a perfect combination of ripeness and volume balanced by energy and acidity, making for a most harmonious experience. The wine will pair beautifully with the warm spring and summer months, in the open air, with food, and without. As the country (and world) begin opening up post vaccination, we think this Rosé is the perfect celebratory wine, as it just screams freshness, happiness and optimism. Get some soon. Supplies are limited. Wines are available for pick up at the Los Olivos Tasting Room and can be shipped across the US. PURCHASE SAVE THE DATE – March 25, 2021 Spring Release & Wine Club Customization Period begins While we have your eyeballs (corporate speak that is probably already outdated), we wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Spring Release and Wine Club customization period begins March 25, 2021. Keep and eye on your inboxes, as there will be some very cool, incredibly small production wines released in addition to the wine club wines. Supplies of everything are very limited, so you will want to be ready to act fast. JOIN US FOR OUR UPCOMING VIRTUAL TASTINGS March 19 – Cheese Store Beverly Hills March 25 – Golden Gate Wine Cellars Cheers John, Steve, Brandon and the entire Dragonette Cellars team |