The 2023 Old Vine Rosé, a serious yet vibrant blend of Grenache and Cinsault, showcases its youthful energy and dynamic flavors. With a nose featuring honeydew melon, starfruit, sweet white peach and white flower, this wine celebrates the more engaging aspects of life. The palate echoes these bright flavors, accompanied by a subtle hint of oak and a lively acidity that persists through the finish. This remarkable wine promises a captivating experience.
Ideal with grilled peach and arugula salad, where its notes of white peach and juicy minerality beautifully echo the dish’s sweet and tangy flavors.
The warm, long growing season in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County is about as Provençal as it gets in California. Zaca Mesa was one of the first vineyards planted in the Santa Ynez Valley and this fruit comes from their oldest block of Grenache, planted in 1973. The vineyard is planted against the mountains on a mesa of the northern edge of the Santa Ynez Valley. A relatively warm, elevated site with early ripening and rocky soils, this vineyard is ideal for Grenache, and experiences cool afternoon breezes blowing east from the Pacific through the Santa Rita Hills.
The grapes for our Old Vine Rosé of Grenache are hand-picked and sorted in the cool of the early morning. They are whole cluster pressed to French oak barriques using a very gentle press program similar to what is used in Champagne. Allowed to ferment with indigenous yeasts and put through partial malolactic fermentation, this wine is aged on lees for six months with periodic bâtonnage to promote richness and complexity. A small portion of carefully selected new French oak adds structure to the mid palate of the wine.
