Welcome to our Featured Wine series! Each month Damian will profile a Doffo wine, giving you a little bit of back story about the winemaking process, what to expect when you taste it, and what kinds of foods to pair it with. We hope you enjoy and visit us soon to learn more about our handcrafted wines! Our Featured Wine of the Month for April is our first ever rosé, called Rosario.
I am very excited to introduce Doffo Winery’s first ever rosé. We named this wine “Rosario” after the city in Argentina where my grandfather and father lived for so many years. This wine came about last fall when we harvested our Cabernet Sauvignon. As the fruit was being processed, I decided we should try making a small batch of rosé.
A rosé is not a blend between white and red wines, but rather is a type of wine that incorporates only some of the color from the grape skins. We used the saigneé method, which is one of a few different methods used in producing this type of wine. Saigneé comes from the French word for “bleeding.” Using this method, we removed some of the juice from our Cabernet Sauvignon tank at an early stage in the winemaking. The pink juice is then processed and treated like a white wine, meaning it had to be cold stabilized and we had to take care not to expose it to oxygen during production and bottling.
Many rosés are “off-dry,” which means the winemaker left a small amount of residual sugar in to give the wine a bit of sweetness. We decided to go completely dry in fermentation, giving Rosario a clean aromatic profile. It also packs a bit of a punch! The nose of the wine shows hints of ripe strawberries, but the balanced acidity and the Cabernet Sauvignon tannins make for a delightfully crisp and refreshing wine.
This is the perfect summertime wine! Take it on a picnic and enjoy with traditional picnic foods like melon and prosciutto, blue cheese, grapes and honey. For a heartier meal, throw some chicken, fish or burgers on the grill when you’re out by the pool. Rosés also go very well with warm climate cuisine, like Greek food, Mexican food, Thai food or Indian food. The dry, balanced acidity will also help combat the spiciness in those dishes.
Unlike most red wines, rosés do not benefit from aging and are best enjoyed right away. It is also ideally served chilled, between 45-55°F, like white wines. We only produced 60 cases, so stop on by the Doffo Tasting Room or shop online to get your Rosario before we run out!
