Rosé is a fun, yet challenging, wine to make. The light pink color is all about timing and vineyard choice. Color is the first lure of this wine, and it is crucial to have it just right in order to create an appealing rosé. To give the wine fruit aromatics, a round mid-palate, fresh acidity and a poignant finish, many vinification methods are used in our winemaking. Half of the fruit was put directly to press, which produces an incredibly light and delicate pink color, while bringing a bit more structure and mouthfeel to the wine. The other half was produced using the saignée method of pulling juice from destemmed grapes in the still wine fermenter. This method produces an aromatic, fruit-forward wine. A range of 2-to-48 hours of skin contact was used to vary the amount of color in each lot. This gave us a lovely palette of colors to use when it came time to make the blend. Using both the direct-to-press and saignée styles provides mouthfeel and structure, along with a bright fruit bouquet. Another tack we take is using both stainless steel tank fermentation (about 70%) to preserve the fruit aromatics, and 30% neutral oak, which gives this wine a round palate, while preserving the wine’s delicate nature and bright fruit. The wine was aged for three months and then bottled while still crisp and fresh, on February 24th, 2020.