Description

A co-fermentation of Merlot/Viognier, and the fourth vintage for our rosé to have been entirely stomped by foot and, for all practical purpose, made and aged as a red wine. After a short two-day maceration, the red fruit was pressed onto the Viognier and completed fermentation on the white skins/stems. The wine was aged in barrel for 19 months before bottling in March 2019, and nearly four years in the bottle prior to its release in January 2023. Admittedly, this is an uncommon way of producing rosé but, in our view, this is what allows the full potential of these vineyards/grapes to be expressed, rather than being forced into a one-dimensional, all smily and obedient – if pretty – phenomenon…

The first thing you may notice, is that it is not pink at all, rather, reddish amber. It is immediately fascinating in its grip, rustic/textured charm, freshness, and aromatic complexity, but it does have the potential to age further, just as well as our red wines. During the extended (and, potentially, yet further) aging, it has lost its archetypal “rosé innocence”, replacing it with unusual depth of character/expression and, for lack of better term – “wisdom”.

In our experience, our Tickled Pink rosés really come to their own at about 8-10 years from harvest. We urge you to explore this further and promise you will not regret it!

The grapes for this wine were grown in the granitic hills of Nevada County, California (Sierra Foothills), at about 2200ft elevation.

Total Sulfur added: 35ppm (at bottling), Alcohol: 12.5%, 85 cases produced.