Pretty in Pink
It is the season of pink wine and these are some standouts! Blauer Zweigelt from Austria, Pinot Noir from California, White and Red grapes from Italy and a Cab Franc from France. You will be sure to find a favorite here.
Brunn Rose
Grapes 100% Blauer Zweigelt
Place Niederösterreich - Austria
Process Winemaker Karl Steinschaden and his family are dedicated to traditional practices, completing the harvest 100% by hand in small cases. The old estate vines produce low yield with very high quality grapes. The character of the wine is defined by the soil of the vineyard and the climate of the region. An optimal climate leads to wines of elegance while preserving the unique flavors of the grapes.
Family Just north of the Danube, in Kamptal, resides the small family owned and run winery producing Brunn. The winery owns the oldest traditional basket press in this part of Europe, dating back to 1564 A.D and originally used by the Benedictine Abby of Gottweig near Krems.
Karl and Godfried Steinschaden’s family has lived and farmed the land in Engabrunn for 6 generations. The family is dedicated to traditional practices and the farming is being converted to organic.
Bottle: $21 | Glass: $8
Robert Sinskey Vineyards “Vin Gris”
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Place: Carneros - California
Process: Stunningly beautiful, prime, organically farmed Pinot Noir grown on RSV’s “Carneros estate” vineyards are night-picked by hand, delivered to the cellar door kissed by the morning dew where it is delicately whole-cluster pressed. Only the delicious “free-run” juice (no skins, stems or seeds) is cold fermented. That is it! No manipulation, no blend back of other juices for color; this wine is grown well, handled delicately and fermented for purity. It is an honest rosé. Very limited production - dependent on the vintage’s yield.
Family: Sinskey was founded by Dr. Robert Sinskey, a prominent cataract surgeon in 1986. Dr. Sinskey (died in 2015) who collected wines for many years before becoming a winery owner made his mark on the world of ophthalmology from his home base in Los Angeles. His contributions to the industry were significant. Long involved in research, his early studies involved examining the eyes of Hiroshima bomb survivors from 1951 to 1953 while working in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He began teaching at UCLA in 1955 and opened their eye services center. Later he invented and patented several important surgical devices including a modified J-loop IOL (intraocular lens) used during cataract surgery and what is known as the Sinskey IOL Hook, which is still very much in use today.
In 1971 Sinskey founded a mobile surgery center, performing eye surgery in an outpatient environment rather than at hospitals. He also founded the Assil Gaur Eye Institute of Los Angeles; two locations continue to serve the city, one in Santa Monica and the other in Beverly Hills.
Bottle: $45 | Glass: $20
Sassara “Esotico”
Grapes: 30% red, 70% white
Place: Veneto - Italy
Process: Is it red? Is it pink? Is it orange? Who cares?! 30% red grapes (Corvina, Rossanella, Rondinella, Molinara) and 70% white grapes (Fernanda, Moscato, Trebbianello, Trebbiano, Garganega, Tocai), all from old vines. Hand harvested and spontaneously co-fermented with 10 days of skin maceration and without temperature control. Aged in stainless steel. No filtering or fining and minimal added sulfur as necessary. With 14 hectares, ten of them are dedicated to vines, while the other four are made up of woodlands and olive groves.
Family: This is the passionate work of Alessia Bertaiola and her husband, Stefano, a 3rd generation winemaker whose family has had this property for more than 50 years. Alessia and Stefano represent the 4th generation to work the morainic hill of Monte Mamaor. They took over the property in 2007, and with Alessia's strong background in agricultural research and development, quickly converted each plot to biodynamic farming. They have been making certified organic wine during that time, but due to a lack of inspiration, they took the plunge into producing a more naturalistic expression of their incredible fruit and soil, greatly inspired by the likes of Danillo Marcucci and others.
The area was once an ancient sea, and the hills were shaped by later glacial activity which left the soils rich in marine deposits and a complexity of morainic sediment. Alessia and Stefano are blessed with mostly big, thick, sturdy old vines roughly 60 to 70 years old, with some younger vines they have planted themselves. Vine training is what's known as a "Veronese double arch", a variation on the double guyot. They grow all autochthonous grapes with red varieties such as Corvina, Rossanella, Rondinella and Molinara; and white grapes like Fernanda, Moscato, Trebbianello, Trebbiano, Garganega and Tocai.
Bottle: $31 | Glass: $13
Thibaud Boudignon
Grapes 90% Cabernet Franc, 10% Grolleau
Place Loire Valley - France
Process Practicing biodynamic 30+ year old vines from Lys Haut Layon. Shallow soils of grey schist and rhyolite (volcanic soil) and clay. Direct press rosé. Some spots with little topsoil, others 10-15cm before hitting the mother rock. Indigenous yeast. No malo. Fermented and aged in stainless steel
Family Thibaud Boudignon is unquestionably one of the most exciting figures in wine today. Originally from Bordeaux, it was in 2009 that he began to make wine under his own name from a scant 3.5 ha in the heart of Anjou and Savennieres. Knowing that the quality of his fruit was of most importance, he committed himself absolutely to the health of his vines, choosing to farm organically and spend the majority of his time in the vineyards.
Bottle: $29 | Glass: $12