Meanwhile, probably the oddest rosé I’ve tried from the U.S. comes from Peter Cargasacchi in the Santa Rita Hills, for his Point Concepcion label, called Celestina. It is a Pinot Grigio, but for any Grigio lover, the look of this wine will be an affront: It is a fiery blood orange, the color of a smoky sunset.
That’s no Rose…that’s gopher blood!
Kudos, Peter … gopher essence or not.
Congrats on the write-up, Peter! Making “odd” wines finally pays off
T-Bone, have you ever tried to squeeze blood out of a gopher? Not a lot there and certainly not enough to work with in winemaking.
I have been lucky to work with a native Americans group that still follows the old ways. They have Federal and State permits to capture wild eagles for ceremonial purposes.
Since I am a highly regarded hunter, (some say the best tracker and sniffer west of the Mississippi,) they recruited me to help capture the eagles. After the ceremonial feather plucking, the eagles are released unharmed.
However first the Fish and Wildlife service takes some blood samples for testing.
When they are done with the blood samples you can’t exactly put it back into the eagles. As a token for my efforts, I am allowed to keep the leftover eagles blood. I add this eagles blood to the rose, which is what gives the wine that blood orange/smoky sunset coloration.
[d_sunny.gif]
Fair enough then, Black Hawk. Perhaps we should have a ceremonial toast on say…June 7? The mighty Mississippi still holds memories, and as the sun also rises, so shall the full moon set.
Oh, and congrats on the article!
A point of clarification. My tribal name is Danger Mouse, not Black Hawk.
The “pink” Pinot Grigio is made using the metodo ramato (rame means copper in Italian) it’s a technique more common in the Tre Venezie region and in Alsace. PG is actually a russet red (copper colored) grape but typically whole cluster pressed to make a white wine.
Metodo ramato PG is destemmed and allowed to soak on the skins. I cold soak it with dry ice to inhibit fermentation and oxidation during the 3-4 day maceration. (Normal maceration is usually less than 24 hours for metodo ramato.)
For me color is incidental, I am after skin phenols/tannin of which anthocyanins (pigmented phenols) are just a small part. Tannin and acid are synergistic. As acidity rises the perception of astringency (a tactile sensation) and bitterness (a flavor) increases relative to the same level of tannin. At the low pH, the small amount of water soluble skin tannin that is extracted by cold soak, acts as a counterpoint to the bitterness in greens on the palate. The wine simply becomes more citrusy rather than metallic or saccharinely sweet as is typical when pairing wine with these foods.
As foodies and wine drinkers know, greens have some bitterness and are typically hard to pair. This wine is intentionally built to pair with them including artichoke, asparagus, arugula, radicchio, broccoli, etc. etc.
Curiously, Traminer is another russet red grape with many similarities to Pinot Grigio. As everyone knows, Pinot Grigio/Gris is a mutation of Pinot Noir. It turns out that one of the identified parents of Pinot Noir is Traminer! Its interesting that the mutation of Pinot Noir that is Pinot Grigio/gris, is the same color as one of Pinot Noir’s parents. It turns out in looking at the DNA of Traminer, that it is a cross of wild vines and one of the oldest domestic cultivars. Traminer shows up in the parentage of quite a few other varieties including I think riesling.
As foodies and wine drinkers know, greens have some bitterness and are typically hard to pair. This wine is intentionally built to pair with them including artichoke, asparagus, arugula, radicchio, broccoli, etc. etc.
And I can confirm that this wine pairs BEAUTIFULLY with asparagus…
a wine that really goes well with summertime grilled asparagus? i am sold!
Damn. My monthly wine shipment from the US has already left. I hope there’s still some to be had when I order mid-next month.
Congrats, Peter!
N