Notes from BIG Andy.
The rosé is made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Shay’s Flat section of the Chapoutier vineyard. The fruit was picked 30 March at the same ripeness as I would pick for red wine, as it was my intention to make a gastronomic rosé, of ample ripeness. The fruit was de-stemmed and crushed after an overnight skin soak and pressed straight to the same old barriques for fermentation and elevage as the previous year. Malolactic fermentation didn’t occur until the following spring, after which I left the two barriques un-topped for their final 3 months of elevage. Gentle oxidative characters are a hallmark of so many of my favourite wines, so why not! The 2022 Rose is very pale in colour with lots of texture derived from extended time on lees and a lovely balance between fruit and spice characters. The wine was bottled in February 2023 with a 30ppm sulfur addition. 792 bottles were filled.