Arnot Roberts Proves Rosé Season Is Here!
It has become an annual tradition in our stores to start off the year’s rosés with Arnot Roberts. We always wonder to ourselves, is it too early? Do people really want rosé this early? But then we remember that if we wait for much longer, the wine will be long gone. And we've seen it, year after year, people want this wine as early as possible.
Of course, the Arnot Roberts tradition does not simply derive from the fact that the rosé is the first to arrive at our shop. This rosé is special. We love how it tastes. We love how it looks in the glass. We love the aromas of strawberry and gentle spice. We love drinking it and knowing that it means that the flowers will bloom on the trees in just a few weeks.
We also love the sheer implausibility of this rosé. Its recipe is so unique. Grow Touriga Nacional — a Port variety — at 1400 feet above an ancient lake east of Mendocino. Blend with 20% Tinta Cão (obviously). And then give it a gentle 24 hour maceration to produce a beautiful salmon pink wine. Who would ever come up with this?
But we have grown to expect the unexpected from the pioneering team of Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts. They come up with recipes like this all the time. In doing so have made us re-think the greatness of California and its potential. They have made us fall in love with California all over again.
Arnot-Roberts, California Rosé, 2019
Crisp watermelon, salty breezes and sun-warmed strawberries dominate the flavor profile here; although this wine is delightfully guzzle-able, there's a complexity here worth savoring.