2019 RILEY'S ROWS ROSE OF SYRAH, NORTH COAST CALIFORNIA

The 2019 Riley’s Rows Rose was sourced from a small Syrah vineyard in Bennett Valley. Compared to the huge crop in 2018, 2019 was much less extreme. Spring was exceptionally wet with 20 days of rain in May. This led to very limited fruit set. After the cool, rainy spring, things settled down, and we had a very steady growing season. 2019 was a vintage where, at the end of the season, nothing forced our hands and we got to pick at the optimal moment. My goal with this wine was to make a true Provencal style Rosé. I started with cool climate Syrah and harvested it at 22 Brix to maintain the freshness and the bright acidity. We pressed the wine off skins right when it arrived at the winery and fermented it dry. This wine shows how good Rosé can be when it is made intentionally from high quality fruit.