2021: A Rosé Kind of Year
"WINETALK" by WINEMAKER, KATEY LARWOOD
One of the many reasons why I love the Finger Lakes is the variation among every new season. I believe that wine can be a sort of gateway into the past, where we can smell and taste the quirks and beauty of any season and understand its unique mark from our small section in the world. The 2021 year was chock full of challenges both climactic and social, as you all know, but one of the best things coming from the season was something that will brighten anyone’s day – rosé!
Here at Damiani, we make rosé in a few different ways. First, we assess the fruit quality and status of each site. If we think the fruit should be allocated to rosé, we will then choose to pick it early or let it hang longer. When picking early, we follow the white winemaking procedure of pressing the fruit immediately off its skins and fermenting the very lightly colored juice in stainless steel tanks, with skin-contact (or the amount of time the juice can develop color and tannin) from anywhere from 3-12 hours. The alternative way to make rosé is to pick the fruit as a red wine, which we hand-sort and de-stem into 1-5 ton tanks and let the juice develop a little more color over a few days before we section some off, or “saignée” which translates to “bleeding” in French. The sectioned juice gets put into stainless steel tanks and fermented there. The saignée method is something we do every year but the amount we saignée varies season to season depending on how juicy the tanks are and how concentrated we want our reds to be.
The 2021 season gave us two very distinctive rosés – the Dry Rosé made from pinot noir and the Bouquet made from merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, lemberger, and saperavi. The pinot noir in the Dry Rosé was picked and pressed off early, where the Bouquet was made almost entirely from saignée, apart from the saperavi. The season was perfect for rosé wines because the wines are crisp but also fruit-driven, with a zip and bounce to them that can playful – everything that I love about rosé!
From the Damiani cellar,
Katey
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2021 Dry Rosé
Complex, snappy, and robust.
Pale in the extreme, our 2021 Dry Rosé will surprise you with its robust body and sapid flavor! The complexity of the nose is astounding: a tart cranberry tang and a juicy strawberry facet both tango with an enchanting savory aspect. Fresh, crisp, and succulent, a crescendo of snappy and ambrosial flavors caresses your taste buds. Think strawberry-rhubarb pie! The finish too is a study in contrasts – honey and tart apple, zippy yet silky and it lasts and lasts and lasts. Make sure you’re ready for picnics and days on the dock!
This will sell out quickly. Get a case now!
425 Cases Produced
$21.99/bottle
club price: $18.69/bottle
2021 Bouquet
Floral, sassy, and lots of berries.
Our primrose-pink Bouquet is dry as can be, and a luscious, juicy, refreshing surprise. As the name suggests, slightly floral on the nose, showing very delicate aromas of peony and gardenia with a dash of wild strawberry to start your mouth watering. A sip reveals a flood of berries; blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, and sweet, dark cherry all rub elbows – on your tongue. Sassy, tingly, bright acidity dances on your palate and brings the finish to a delightful, invigorating close.
A perfect mother's day gift...a dozen rosés!
466 Cases Produced
$21.99/bottle
club price: $18.69/bottle
Earlier this month we participated in a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen. Thank you to everybody who purchased wine and donated. We raised over $6,000 to help the people of Ukraine.
Thanks, also, to our friends at Forge Cellars who raised $1600 to the cause and to our tasting room associate Christine Boehlke who personally raised several hundred dollars through her hair salon.
A very special direct thank you to Warren and Terry Radke who personally donated $1000 to both Damiani AND Forge. Thank you both so very much!
In partnership with a private donor providing a generous 3:1 match to our donation, thanks to all of you we will be donating over $30,000 to help feed Ukrainian refugees.
We are humbled and proud of the outpouring of support our efforts have received, we cannot thank you enough.
Cheers and peace from all of us at Damiani Wine Cellars
