2015 Tercero Mourvedre Rosé Vogelzang Vineyard
First Rose of the tasting is the Mourvedre Rosé from Tercero Wines. Absolutely beautiful in color, completely different than the Two Shepherds and the Scalon Cellars. Bright, clear and light orangey pink, almost like peach or beige. Nose was coated with white and tropical fruits such as guava, white peaches, lychee, and some light green apples. So much going on but a lot more complex than just the clean fruits. There was also a slight dirty fruit side accompanied with some light wood chips and wet stones as it warmed up. Strong acidity with a crisp, tangy, beautifully tart and refreshing body. Started out with guava and lychee on the palate that definitely brought out some additional tartiness in the white and red fruits. As it opened up there were some slight savory notes with a little wet grass like right after a rain storm. Very refreshing. Long and lingering finish. Was a little tight to start but by the end we were very impressed! Cannot wait to try more of the wines made by Larry. Highly recommended.
Brand new bottling of the Tercero Mourvedre Rosé from the Vogelzang Vineyard. If we are correct, we believe this was just bottled at the end of February. The Vogelzang Vineyard is located in a newly classified AVA in Santa Barbara County called the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA, which was classified as an AVA in November of 2009. Very interesting name to say the least. The name Happy Canyon comes from a legend during the Prohibition Period when folks would “take a trip up to Happy Canyon”. Definitely seems like an appropriate name given this killer wine. This vineyard is located on south-eastern corner of the Santa Ynez Valley which gives it a distinct micro-climate. This micro-climate brings in a morning fog that quickly leaves and gives the vines extended periods of heat during the day until the sea breeze blows over cooling down the vineyard. Additionally the vineyard is made up of a gravely loam soil mixed with some rocks and rubble to help with irrigation. Larry Schaffer particularly likes this vineyard for his Rosé since the Mourvedre does not get too ripe which makes for this perfect Mourvedre Rosé.
What about some more specifics about this wine? This is a single varietal Rosé made up of 100% Mourvedre. Larry stomps the grapes himself and leaves them on the skins for around an hour before dumping them into the press. This is how Larry gets the beautiful light color and texture in his Rosé. A lot of manual labor and hard work goes into making this beautiful Rosé. As for aging this is aged for four months in older french barrels. Only 6 1/2 barrels produced, super small production! His inspiration comes from the Mourvedre-based Rosés of the Bandol region of Provenance.
2016 till 2022.
Price Point:
$ - Sample provided by the Estate. Can be purchased from the Estate for $25.00.