A Tribute to Grace - Rosé of Grenache, Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard, California (2022)

TASTING NOTES

Very provencal in style, from its pale pink colour to the garrigue-like herbal element.   This wine shows intense rose petals, lavender, anise, plum and strawberry/rhubarb fruits for a long, grippy finish.

Clusters from the Mesa vineyards were foot-trod and left on skins for just 24 hours to impart their gorgeous tonality and texture, before being pressed with their clone Noir/2 sisters. A long, slow, cool fermentation ensued. The finished wine aged sur lie in stainless before being bottled.

Tribute to Grace, named for winemaker Angela Osborne’s grandmother, studied film in her native New Zealand and worked at a wine shop to pay the bills. Moving to California to undertake a harvest, Angela discovered Grenache and became smitten. Angela's style is to make ethereal wines with nuanced flavours and was named one of Jon Bonné’s 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Winemakers to Watch.

100% Grenache from the Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyards (Santa Barbara County AVA) with a surprising 24-hours skin contact (given the colour), but the source for that grippy texture. A long, slow, cool fermentation over 51 days was followed with 13 weeks sur lies in stainless steel tank.