Winemaker Notes
Pale pink wine, with a bright, elegant sheen. Very complex and intense nose with aromas of stone fruit (peaches, apricots), citrus (mandarin peel), strawberries and notes of dried hazelnuts. Silky-smooth mouth-feel with good acidity. Balanced and very long on the palate. Perfect to accompany white meat, pasta, rice dishes, salads, and cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
This estate always turns out a classy rosé and the 2019 Rosado is no exception. Based largely on Grenache with 30% Viura and 10% Tempranillo, its light pink color is followed by attractive notes of wild strawberries, white peach, and flowers. It's medium-bodied, seamless, and beautifully balanced, and has a good mix of both richness and freshness.
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James Suckling
Pleasant watermelon, pink-guava and peach character with some citrus. It’s medium-bodied with good fruit and a fresh finish. Macabeo, grenache and tempranillo. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Rosado was produced mainly with grapes from the Alto Najerilla zone of Rioja, where the soils have a mix of clay, limestone and iron that give them an intense red color. The must fermented in small oak vats for 15 to 20 days at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius and was kept with lees that were worked for three months before bottling. It has a similar profile as the white, slightly reductive at first and then opening up after some time in the glass. It's tender and sleek, with integrated acidity and clean flavors with a pleasant bitter twist in the finish. It's a blend of Garnacha and Viura plus whatever grapes might be in the old vineyards in the Najerilla zone.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
Highly regarded for distinctive and age-worthy red wines, Rioja is Spain’s most celebrated wine region. Made up of three different sub-regions of varying elevation: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental. Wines are typically a blend of fruit from all three, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta, at the highest elevation, is considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier Rioja Oriental produce wines with deep color and higher alcohol, which can add great body and richness to a blend.
Fresh and fruity Rioja wines labeled, Joven, (meaning young) see minimal aging before release, but more serious Rioja wines undergo multiple years in oak. Crianza and Reserva styles are aged for one year in oak, and Gran Reserva at least two, but in practice this maturation period is often quite a bit longer—up to about fifteen years.
Tempranillo provides the backbone of Rioja red wines, adding complex notes of red and black fruit, leather, toast and tobacco, while Garnacha supplies body. In smaller percentages, Graciano and Mazuelo (Carignan) often serve as “seasoning” with additional flavors and aromas. These same varieties are responsible for flavorful dry rosés.
White wines, typically balancing freshness with complexity, are made mostly from crisp, fresh Viura. Some whites are blends of Viura with aromatic Malvasia, and then barrel fermented and aged to make a more ample, richer style of white.