Lioco, Indica Rosé 2016, Mendocino County, California

Tasting Note: A bright, fruity rosé with more flavor complexity than most.

Medium-intensity salmon in color, this wine has a medium-intensity nose of red cherry, nectarine stonefruit, orange-citrus peel, honeysuckle and strawberry blossom.

On the palate the dry, medium-bodied rosé has bright red-fruit-and-floral flavors suggested on the nose supported by medium acidity and completing with a citrusy, medium-plus finish.

The wine is balanced and has a complexity along the midpalate culminating in rosé that has more personality than your typical rosé.

A rosé to repeat.

Bottle Note: Aroma: Pickled watermelon, sweet tarts, wild herbs. Flavor: Fresh rhubarb, wild strawberry, candied orange peel. Food Pairings: Cold smoked salmon, moules frites, spring crudité. Vinification: The fruit was hand-harvested and the berries purposely “broken” before being whole-cluster pressed to a stainless-steel tank. The wine was fermented cool and finished bone dry. It completed a long, slow malolactic fermentation which balanced the naturally high acidity. A gentle filtration was done prior to bottling. Site: From a mid-century planting of dry-farmed, head pruned carignane in the township of Talmage. A severe dirurnal shift supports gradual and often late ripening. The soil is red clay strewn with fist-sized rocks. The combination of vine age, extended growing season, and tougher soil conspire to produce a rosé with great freshness and complexity.