Winemaker Notes
Schramsberg Brut Rosé is fruitful, complex and dry, making it both versatile with food and delicious by itself as an apéritif. The character of the wine is most strongly influenced by bright, flavorful Pinot Noir grown in Carneros, Anderson Valley, and the Sonoma and Marin coastal areas. A few small lots of Pinot Noir are fermented in contact with their skins to add depth and subtle color to this vibrant sparkling wine. Chardonnay gives spice, structure and length on the palate.
The 2016 Brut Rosé has generous aromas of strawberry and orange zest. Its fruitful nose is complemented by notes of cinnamon, vanilla and watermelon. On the palate, there are juicy flavors of ruby grapefruit, stone fruit and raspberry compote, with soft touches of toasted hazelnut and shortbread cookie. The fruitful finish is fresh, with a bright clean acidity.
Enjoy this rich, delicious sparkler on almost any occasion: at your favorite restaurant, a special dinner at home, at a beach picnic or a backyard barbecue. A very versatile wine; try it with sushi, salmon, rock shrimp, pizza, roast chicken, BBQ ribs, burgers, chocolate raspberry tarts and creamy cheeses with summer fruits.
Blend: 64% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Subtle flavors and a delicately rounded texture help this elegant, medium-bodied wine stand out. Hints of fresh bread and raspberries on the nose lead to slightly tangy flavors of ginger and white cherry on the palate. Gentle effervescence and just-right acidity lend lift.
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James Suckling
This rosé sparkling wine has a very attractive nose with light red berries and strawberries. Some light, grassy elements and a pastry-like edge. The palate has a juicy and fresh feel with blood oranges and red berries intermingling in an approachable fleshy and fresh mode. 64% pinot noir and 36% chardonnay. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Brut Rosé has a pale to medium salmon-pink color and is a blend of 64% Pinot Noir and 36% Chardonnay. It has open, inviting aromas of melon, red berries, citrus peel and spices. The medium bodied-palate offers intense, berry-laced flavors with rounded, creamy mousse, and it finishes long and uplifted.
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Wine Spectator
Vibrant and pretty, with delicate rose petal, strawberry and roasted almond accents that glide on the long finish. Drink now.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
64% Pinot Noir; 36% Chardonnay. Briskly fruity with a trim bit of yeast in both its aromas and flavors, this slightly light-leaning effort leads with a nose that inclines to Blanc de Noirs but edges its way into Rosé territory on the palate and shows a little more substance and size. Plentifully bubbled and very well-structured with but a barely noticeable trace of finishing astringency, it steers clear of candied simplicity and is balanced to be equally enjoyable with or without food.
In 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies founded Schramsberg and set out to make world-class sparkling wine in the true méthode traditionelle style on the property originally established in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. There were only 22 bonded wineries in Napa Valley and fewer than 100 acres of California vineyards planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Schramsberg was the first California winery to provide a Blanc de Blancs in 1965 followed by a Blanc de Noirs in 1967. Now their son, Hugh Davies, leads the winery’s management and winemaking team.
The Schramsberg estate in Napa Valley’s famed Diamond Mountain District is a registered historic landmark with Napa’s first caves, hand-dug in the 1880s, and its first hillside vineyards. Quality focus drives all aspects of wine production starting with access to over 120 cool-climate sites in Carneros, Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma, which result in over 200 separate lots. Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments about 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels to produce rich, flavorful, complex wines.
Most of Schramsberg’s viticultural and winemaking practices are carried out by hand: grapes are hand harvested, the wines are handcrafted, and the bottles are stacked and riddled in underground caves. The family and the winery embody excellence and innovation in winemaking, as well as preservation of their land, their history and their community.