Every year around this time, I collect several new releases of rosé wines, for they are the most reliable sign that spring has arrived. I taste the wines myself over a period of several weeks.
Then came this year. Before I could gather several rosé bottles from an array of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo winemakers, the curtain fell. The statewide stay-at-home order because of the coronavirus pandemic means wineries and tasting rooms cannot allow tasting, and a person can buy wines only via pre-order for curbside pickup outside tasting rooms and wineries.
Alright, Plan B. What did I have on hand? An idea began to take shape. I would include in the annual sampling my own cellar wines with a few new bottles I’d order online or via friends on social media.
In the cellar (aka closet), there were two 2018 rosés, one a grenache and one a pinot noir. But since I wanted a cross section of grape varietals, I reached out to two more producers.
Rather than drink several bottles of rosé while in my home quarantine, I opted to “share the wealth” with fellow members of a tasting group we formed about three years back. All of us are longtime wine aficionados, and most of us work in the industry in some fashion — in farming, winemaking, direct-to-customer sales or marketing.
In “normal” years — not 2020 — we meet several times a year to blind-taste one grape varietal. One of us buys all of the wines, and we split the cost. The host prepares food that he or she believes will best pair with the varietal in question.
This round would be virtual.
How it worked: Over two days, I donned a mask and gloves and hand-delivered newspaper-wrapped bottles to the homes of fellow members. My plan was that each taster (or couple) would have two bottles — one each of the five rosés, all of which were wrapped and incognito, and a “lead” wine, left unwrapped so that we would be on the same page from the get-go. I wanted that to be something brand new to the entire team.
The lead wine I chose is crafted by the husband-and-wife team known as Final Girl Wines. It’s a 2019 pinot noir rosé from grapes grown in the greater Santa Ynez Valley.
Peter Lancucki and Anna Clifford are huge fans of both the horror film genre and wine, so much so that their label depicts the “final girl” left standing/alive in macabre slasher movies. (Think Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween.)
While her day job is on the winemaking team at Jackson Family Wines/Cambria Wines in the Santa Maria Valley, Clifford focuses on petit verdot, a blend of syrah and grenache, and an uber-delicate yet flavorful pinot noir rosé for Final Girl. In short, it’s a gorgeous rosé.
At the appointed hour, we tasters logged into our Zoom “Rosé Tasting” and got down to business — that is, after catching up on our lives. We’ve been friends for years but haven’t come face to face as a group for at least two months. Surreal.
During the bottle handoffs, four of us split two other rosés: a 2019 Transcendence Wines Rosé (grenache, Vogelzang Vineyard; “elegant, essence of sour berries but honeyed”) and a 2017 Temperance Cellars Rosé (50/50 grenache and syrah; “quiet, but opened up with more tasting.”)
Most of us had “pre-gamed” the Final Girl rosé with our respective dinners, so we moved on to the “blind” bottles. Only I knew who had what, and per our “rules,” I wanted fellow tasters to reveal the vintage, appellation and varietal of each wine.
The bottles were numbered one to five. The respective comments follow:
» 2018 Peake Ranch Pinot Noir Rosé, Santa Rita Hills: “Definitely from the SRH; not as bright as the Final Girl,” (though 48 hours later, this taster finished off the bottle with some fancy, creamy cheeses and found it “much tastier”).
» 2019 Tercero Wines Mourvèdre Rosé, Santa Ynez Valley: “This is a direct press; a heartier rosé, be good with barbecue.”
» 2019 Longoria Wines Rosé, Clover Creek Vineyard (blend of tempranillo, syrah and pinot grigio — 84 percent, 12 percent and 4 percent): “Bright strawberry, lush, really pretty.”
» 2019 Tercero Wines Cinsault Rosé, Santa Ynez Valley: “Pretty, bubblegum essence, sweet.”
» 2018 Liquid Farm Mourvèdre Rosé, Vogelzang Vineyard: “Honeyed on the palate. Really nice.”
Some winemakers are still releasing 2019 rosés, so check websites for availability, and be on the lookout for possible case deals on rosés and other wines.
Below are some other rosés I also regularly seek out; current vintages are noted.
Be kind, stay home, and support small and local winemakers. Cheers!
» Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard (two: 2019 syrah and 2019 grenache)
» Tensley Cellars (2019 grenache)
» Kessler-Haak Wines (2018 pinot noir)
» Sweetzer Cellars (2019 grenache)
» Buscador Wines (2019 grenache)
» Tierra Y Vino Wines (2019 grenache)
» Dragonette Cellars (2019 grenache)
» Storm Wines (2018 grenache)
» Dreamcote Wine Co. (2018 grenache)
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.