30 Days of Rosé | #07 | Birichino Rosé | Vin Gris Rosé | 2016 | $16.99
No matter how you say ‘Birichino’, we call their wine delicious! Dip in to the second domestic Rosé we’re featuring during our wonderful 30 day journey of Rosé!
From birichino.com:
Birichino
About the name- Birichino- biri-kino. Like locksmiths in the United States that add additional AAAs onto their names to be the first listed in the telephone directory, and drawing on deep reserves of innate marketing genius, we went in search of something unpronounceable to English speakers, yet also difficult to remember that began with A or B. Alluce was an early favorite, seeming to evoke lightness and air in English, but in fact translating as big toe. Seeking something with that playfulness, though about some things we profess to be deadly serious, and inspired by the surprising, slighty racy character of our first wine, the Malvasia Bianca that leads one on to thinking sweet, and delivers something else entirely, we hit on Birichino, meaning naughty in Italian. And who doesn’t consider themselves just a little bit naughty, after all?
2016 Vin Gris
19th Century Contra Costa County mourvèdre first lent larger scale and density to our Vin Gris in 2015, an effect magnified in 2016. We’d originally planned to make a larger quantity of mourvèdre rouge in 2016, however the unpredictability of nature often leaves well formulated plans to wilt like a harvest intern without a trucker’s hat in the sizzling Oakley sun.
A mid-August spike of intense daytime and evening heat diminished prospects for the requisite color, tannin and body development for red, but the deeply rooted old vines didn’t defoliate, and the potential for killer rosé was apparent.
We crushed the majority of the grapes, and pressed to produce a light, visually delicate, though clearly intense pink juice. Fermented native in stainless, the finished wine is prominently marked by this lot of mourvèdre – spice, heft, structure, pink grapefruit rind, guava, a whiff of gunflint.
All the other elements are there – mid-body and red fruits from the alpine grenache from the Sierra foothills and from Besson, the fragrance and prettiness of the Bechthold cinsault, a bit of exotic stone fruit from the vermentino. But the mourvèdre really shows through – more muscular than curvaceous, more attack than restraint, more rock than rolle. But damn, it’s still pretty.
Besson
We are tremendously fortunate – on many levels – to have known and worked with George Besson Jr. and his exceptional vineyard for twenty years. George’s grandfather purchased the vineyard in 1922 [it was planted in 1910] from reputed bootleggers. We are honored to continue the long legacy of a commitment to the wine and spirits business at this property.
These non-irrigated vines, planted on their own roots, sit on a rocky gentle slope just low enough to disqualify it for the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation. Walking through the vines with George, one senses his deep affection and respect for the land and the vines, and his belief in man’s subordinate role to nature in determining the ultimate quality of the grapes grown there. As a consequence of the age of the vines, the lack of irrigation, and the conservative farming practices, the quantity of grapes grown there is quite small – rarely if ever over 2.5 tons/acre, and roughly 2 tons/acre in 2010. Thankfully, Georges Junior and Senior [who still lives in a house surrounded by the 11 acre vineyard] prefer the company of old vines to new neighbors or a vacation home in the tropics, as they appear committed to keeping these geezers producing for a long time to come.