Nero d'Avola Rosato 2019
Varietal:
100% Nero d'Avola
Alcohol:
13%
Vineyard:
Benson Ranch, Ukiah, Mendocino County: 14 year-old head trained, dry farmed vines; farmed according to organic principles without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fungicides. On well-drained gravelly loam, gentle hillside.
Tasting Notes:
This exuberant wine has a deep rose color from sitting on skins overnight; this extended skin contact along with dry farming elevates the concentration and flavors of this rosato. Aromas of dried flowers, cranberry, and agave, with laser-like acidity. Just like the 2017 vintage, this wine naturally stopped fermentation with a little residual sugar.
Tableside Talk
Dry farming elevates the concentration and flavor of this wine. Small grape berries have a higher skin to juice ratio + roots search deep in the soil for water where mineral content is higher.
Martha's Notes
Vino di una notte... This translates to ‘one night wine’ and refers to the technique of crushing grapes and leaving them to macerate on skins (and in our case, stems) in their own juice overnight, adding color, texture, and complexity. I love using this technique with our Nero d’Avola because it produces a wine that falls between rosé and a red wine—zippy and bright like a rosé but textured and robust like a red wine. The farming at Benson Ranch also adds to the complexity of this wine. Dry farmed on well drained soils, grape berries are small due to water scarcity and have a higher skin to juice ratio (skins are where you get a ton of flavor). The roots of these vines penetrate deep into the soil in search of water, at depths where soil mineral content goes up and organic matter is scarce, elevating the uptake of minerals, which I notice most as textural differences in the wine. I make this wine only when the vintage allows for it; the 2017 was a favorite, and I am so excited to release a small quantity of this wine again in the 2019 vintage.
Production Notes
Production: 177 cases
At Bottling:
13% alcohol. Filtered. At bottling (March 2020): free SO2 10 mg/L, total SO2 36 mg/L. Residual sugar: 4.5 g/L.