Winemaker Notes
This wine has an elegant rose-gold pink hue, with scents of dried rose-petal, pomegranate seeds and traces of white melon skin. Bone dry, its berry fruits and crushed river rock core give way to a long and refreshing finish.
Enjoy this wine over the next 12-18 months with lighter fare or while enjoying a picnic with family and friends!
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
100% Zinfandel. Pink wines made from Zinfandel have gotten a bad rap thanks to the days when mawkishly sweet, so-called “White Zins” were darlings of the popular market, but we have always thought that dry Rose and Zinfandel’s distinctive berrylike fruit were a natural fit, and Mauritson’s is a most instructive case in point. Smelling of bright, ripe raspberries with a sweet, Meyer lemon trim and both ripe and zesty in flavor, it shows a degree of refinement from first sip all the way through to a very long, beautifully focused, fruity finish.
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.
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.