The Grenachista Grenache Rose Sonoma Valley 2023

The Grenachista Grenache Rose Sonoma Valley 2023

At various competitions this wine has been awarded a couple of awards: the Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge awarded the 2023 vintage Double Gold and the Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge awarded Best of Class.

Award tasting note:

"I could sit on the porch and sip the rose'. Cool calm and collected. Slightly green banana." - Best of Class, Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge

Tasting Notes:

Pale salmon in hue, classy and vibrant with aromatics of pink grapefruit, fresh ripe strawberry, watermelon rind, rose petal, and candied orange peel, concentrated with a refreshing line of minerality and a zippy citrus finish. The Grenache grapes for this wine were picked with the intention to make Rosé and its expression showcases this. This Rosé is made from 100% Grenache Noir.  

Vineyard:

Algerfeild vineyard, the source of the Grenache Noir for this Rosé is located on the western slopes of the Sonoma Valley. A rocky four acre site consisting of Sonoma series soil structure which are very deep, well drained and formed by alluvium that are derived from mixed tuff stone and volcanic ash. The site is plated to two clones of Grenache Noir, ENTAV 362 and Alban 2A and one clone of Connonau, which is a heritage Grenache clone originating from Sardinia. The fruit ins grown and farmed specifically for our Rosé. 

Winemaking:

The fruit was picked the night of October 6th, a full month later than we usually pick our fruit for Rosé owing to the unusually cool growing season. This extra ‘hangtime’ allowed for a wonderful concentration and great naturel acidity. The fruit was handpicked and brought into the cellar first thing in the morning were we foot trod the fruit in their picking bins to allow for some soak up of color and flavor from the Grenache skins. After about six hours on skins, the grapes are then moved into our press where they were whole cluster pressed. We squeezed rather gently to keep the juice fresh and lively and not extract too much color and keep the pH and acid where we want them. The freshly squeezed juice goes into a stainless-steel tank and brought down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit to settle off any grape skins and organic material to make we’re not extracting any tannin from and residue skins or seeds that make it through the pressing operations. After twenty-four hours in cold settle, the juice is clean racked into a stainless steel tank and various stainless steel drums were it ferments in our very cold barrel room, with indigenous yeast.  The fermentation can take up to a month as the cool temperature allows the wine to retain its beautiful aromatics. Once fermentation is completed, the individual vessels are racked together to homogenize, and we give it a small shot of sulfur dioxide to arrest any malolactic bacteria to arrest secondary fermentation. We drop the temperature again to clarify and settle and then the wine is filtered and bottled. This is the only wine we filter, as a personal choice. I like my Rosés clean and pretty. No additional SO2 is added pre-bottle. Just the one addition post fermentation.  

- Casey Graybehl, Owner / winemaker