Review: Derek Rohlffs, Rosé of Pinot Noir

This is another wine from my friends over at NakedWines.com, who have provided a special offer for readers of this site to get 12 bottles of wine for $79.99 (shipping included). That link gets you the deal. As someone who has spent years on a quest for good wine deals, I have to say that this deal is outstanding.

The particular wine I’m checking out today is a rosé made from pinot noir. Now some folks may wonder how rosé is made and if it comes from pink grapes. Or you may be wondering how you get a rosé from pinot noir when you know pinot noir as a red wine.

To understand this, let’s talk about how red wine is made first. With red wine, the grapes are pressed and the juice is left in contact with the skins from the grapes as it ferments. The skins are where the wine gets its red color. So with a rosé of pinot noir, the grapes are pressed and juice is left in contact with the skins for a much shorter period of time than would be needed for a red wine, hence you end up with a rosé.

And while you may think of pinot noir primarily as a red wine, it’s actually used frequently in rosé and also sparkling wines — which are not red. I tend to characterize the coloring of a rosé made from pinot noir as more of a copper color than the pink you may experience with other rosé.

Before I get into this wine, let’s talk about Derek Rohlffs.

Something many wine drinkers in the US who don’t live in wine country may not realize is there’s a whole sub-culture of garage winemakers in California, as well as other wine regions. They are sometimes referred to as “garagistes.” If you visit California wine country you’ll find little storefronts where garage winemakers have set up tasting rooms. Or some small wine bars that feature a group of garage winemakers. This is how Derek Rohlffs got started in wine, in his garage back in 2001. But now his wines can be found in high-end restaurants with celebrity names like Bobby Flay, Bouchon, Gary Danko and Michael Mina. And they can be found at Naked Wines.

As a winemaker who got his start in the garage, Rohlffs sources his grapes from different vineyards. This gives him flexibility to work with grapes from different appellations and allows him to focus on winemaking versus vineyard management. For this particular rosé, he sourced pinot noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands region, which is a cool climate region in the Central Coast. As a cool climate region, conditions are good for pinot noir and about 50% of the vines planted in Santa Lucia Highlands are pinot noir.

If I close my eyes, smell this wine and pretend this isn’t a rosé, I might guess this was a riesling — which means I love the nose of this wine. Honeysuckle, peach, lime and pronounced mineral aromas make this wine smell cool, calming and delicious. On the palate it shows up more like a rosé, with some strawberry flavors making an appearance alongside peach, lime and saline mineral flavors. The acidity is sufficient. The mouthfeel is nice. It finishes long with salty strawberry and lime flavors.

My one beef with this wine is the 14.1% abv which make this a little heavy of a rosé for my taste although others may like that.

Wine: Derek Rohlffs, Rosé of Pinot Noir
Varieties: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2018
Alcohol: 14.1%
Rating: 86
Price: $25 Market Price / $12.99 Angel Price at NakedWines.com
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.