Peter Mathis Rose of Grenache 2021
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Mathis Rosé is a superb stand-alone sipper, as well as an excellent food pairing wine with lighter, seasonal fare, and especially with spicy cuisine.
Peter Mathis was happily making furniture in Western Massachusetts 25 years ago when he went off the deep end for wine, his creative juices were overflowing to the point where he knew a career change was inevitable.
By 1990 Peter Mathis had an old school bus packed up and headed west, landing at Ravenswood Winery, where he's worked ever since, first in winemaking and more recently as GM. The wines of the south of France were his true love when he first got interested in the red stuff, and it ultimately became his life's mission to capture the laughably delicious aspect of these Grenache based wines in California.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.