2017 Bold Wines, Rosé of Grenache, Paso Robles/San Luis Obispo, Central Coast.
The Bold wines label is part of a new Monterey project founded in 2014 under the Touchstone winery , established by Christopher Miller MS, the ex Spago somm, who originally had the late Peter Figge overseeing the wines before turning to Miguel Lepe to handle the cellar. They are getting ready to release a new set of wines and get their tasting room going, that will be in the Carmel Valley Village in the old Figge location across from Roux, and I had a chance to chat with Miguel and taste their upcoming Rosé, which was sourced mainly from Paso Robles as they work on securing long term local vineyard options. They are doing three tiers of wines with Touchstone being wines that will focus on Bordeaux varietals, Seabold being single vineyard Burgundy style wines and with Bold being regional or village style wines with a set that includes a dry Riesling, a Pinot Noir, a Chardonnay and this richly flavored and crowd pleasing Grenache Rosé. Interestingly, the Rosé is made with 82% Grenache Noir, 12% Roussanne and about 6% of other grapes to add complexity and vibrancy, again it’s enough from Paso Robles to be labeled as such, but a tiny amount also came from San Luis Obispo, it was picked to be Rosé and was direct pressed with 4 hours of skin contact to release it’s beautiful vivid pink hue, fermented in stainless and raised in a combo of stainless steel tank and with a portion in neutral French barrels. The mouth feel and fullness is surprising, it’s a lush style, but at 13.4% it’s not overtly sweet or heavy, it shows a forward jolly ranger that makes a first impact on the palate, though it then settles into a much more subtle wine with hints of sour cherry, watermelon, racy peach and adds a a touch of wet stones, snappy spices and distilled floral tones. This is a beach wine and one that will refresh any robust meal, it was noted by a fellow taster it would be great with fried chicken, certainly it will appeal to most dry Rosé fans that like upfront fruit, it is more Tavel than Provence in style, in fact it is more like a Rosado from Rioja, it’s similar to Muga’s version, drink up! The Bold wines should be available very soon, keep your eyes out for them, plus check out Miguel’s own Lepe Cellars wines, these are exciting new additions to the Monterey wine scene and fun stuff.
($22 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive

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