Nearly an identical study on the two PROPER rosé varieties, this pair has scant differences in color, exact ABV’s, and tasting profiles requiring careful concentration to discern–and I am 1 for 3 at getting them right so far. I keep picking one up and going, “This has to be the Grenache.” and it’s always the opposite. The Grenache is a hair pinker: an injection of rosy glow barely different from the Mourvedre’s SOLID onion-skin amber. The Bandol-ish is green and astringent in the nose: a rasp of woody briar and vegetal mingling with an almost carameled dark fruit. The nod to Provence is all cheery peach and berry–an interesting dollop of root-beer and licorice climbing in for character.
On the palate, the Los Olivos feels rounder and warmer, while the Ballard Canyon feels more alcoholic. Both gloriously dry, near-perfect examples for lovers–like I–of this style of wine. The Mourvedre packing apricot and grass into its citrus-sweetened package, the Grenache feeling more high-note berry with that match-head ache of minerality.
Pick a favorite? Ya gotta be kidding me, right? Life’s too short to even spend THIS amount of time dissecting Rosé. There’s only two kinds of rosé on the planet: good rosé and bad rosé, and this easily comes down on the positive side. EASILY. This is awesome stuff, rosé I would be very proud of, and represents a couple of the finest interpretations in California I have tasted. The Mourvedre unforgiving and abstract; The Grenache stroking and resplendent.
2020 STARS & DUST Rosé of Grenache Terra Alta Vyd Ballard Canyon SYV 11.8
2020 STARS & DUST Rosé of Mourvedre Kaerskov Vyd Los Olivos District SYV 11.8
Stephen McConnell 