This almost looks like a white, and here is why- the only skin contact it gets is on the way back to the winery from the vineyard. Once home it is pressed on the Champagne press setting, which is super gentle and does not extract much more color.
The flavor profile is straight jazzy. This zippy little white is super quaffable. The nose is lemon peel, blood orange, passionfruit and fennel with a great line of saline (my favorite) and seashells.
The first year they made this they tried to use native yeasts and let it ferment naturally, which it did, and they loved it so much they went for it with this vintage as well. Then they let it age on the lees in 3 barrels of stainless steel and one very neutral French oak barrel for 5 months. This wine partially completed Malo-lactic fermentation and is bottled unfined and unfiltered.
2020 Belong Rosé
$26.00
From the Veercamp Vineyard, at 1700 feet elevation in El Dorado County. These young vines are ideal for Rosé because, as Bertus says, “Young vine vineyards are great for Rose, they have loads of fruit but don’t have the ability to hang for complexity yet. If you are able to pull the fruit off early, you really amplify the minerality that you get from all the various soils up there.”
The Veercamp vineyard is farmed by the Mansfields, who are the famous father son team in El Dorado County that farm all the rock star vineyards out that way.
This wine is a blend of 49% Mourvèdre, 26% Grenache, and 25% Cinsault.