Day 8 – Omertà Rosé 2021
Day 8 and you are in for a treat!
Sold out since the early summer, we’ve managed to cobble together enough bottles of one of our most coveted wines: Omertà rosé. The 2021 vintage was made from 100% Cabernet Franc grapes. and is dry, bright and juicy, with a nice pale salmon-pink hue. How do we make this wine? Great question!
There are essentially three ways you can make a rosé wine: blend red and white wine, which is usually reserved for the best boxes and jugs you can find; use a technique called saignee, which means to “bleed” juice from a vat of macerating red grapes; or use the direct press method, where you put red grapes directly in to the press and squeeze the juice out. All of these methods can produce good rosé, but it’s really the latter two that produce amazing wines.
We utilize the direct press method for Omertà, whereby clusters of Cabernet Franc grapes come in from the vineyard and go directly in the press to be squeezed. The grapes we use for Omertà are only ever destined for rosé, so they are farmed a bit differently than they would be were they to be used for a red wine. We are looking for different chemistry when we harvest, such as lower brix and higher acidity. This helps achieve the fresh and crisp style of our dry rosé. Join us for our Zoom Happy Hour tonight and I can go into a lot more depth on how and why we make our rosé like this!
For our food pairing today, we are suggesting a charcuterie and cheese board to enjoy while we chat online. If you are interested in making something else that goes great with Omertà, check out the recipe below for spanakopita triangles.
Winemaking Notes
A crisp, dry Provençale-style rosé made from 100% Cabernet Franc. The delicate pale pink hue of this rosé perfectly disguises the intensity that lies within. Hand-picked and hand sorted, the wine was gently whole-cluster pressed over a 4-hour period. A 10-day period of Stabulation followed, where the juice was chilled, left on the gross lees and stirred twice daily before the onset of fermentation. Only free-run juice made its way into this wine.
Tasting Notes
Sensual, plush and luscious, this fruit-forward wine has amazing depth and complexity. Aromas of strawberry-rhubarb pie and red cherries lead the way to a creamy and unctuous palate of apricot, yellow plum, pomegranate and strawberry compote. Crisp acidity shines from the entry through the long finish, with only the faintest hint of white pepper.
Food Pairings
Refreshing on its own, our rosé is also a highly versatile wine on the table. The textural complexity, rich flavour and crisp acidity enables Omertà to pair well with many different dishes, like fresh bocconcini salad, grilled Merguez sausages, or creamy goat cheese crostini. Want to see the versatility of this rosé? Try it with a sous vide duck breast, finished in a hot skillet and served with a pink peppercorn sauce.
Wine Specs
Vintage 2021
Appellation Okanagan Valley VQA
Vineyards Osoyoos
Acid 6.5 g/L
pH 3.47
Residual Sugar 6.0 g/L
Alcohol % 13.8
Production: 180 cases