2024 Birichino - Vin Gris Rose (750ml)

Birichino was founded in Santa Cruz in 2008 by Alex Krause and John Locke, drawing on four combined decades of winemaking experience across California, France, Italy, and beyond. Their focus is on carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted vineyards planted in the 19th and early 20th centuries, most sitting in moderate, marine-influenced climates, and their winemaking leans toward minimal intervention: native fermentations, stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and filtration avoided whenever possible.

Vin Gris draws on old vine Cinsault and Mourvèdre from 19th century plantings, alongside Grenache sourced since 2020 from a sandy benchland on the Santa Lucia side of the Salinas Valley, and old vine Carignane from a 1927 planting in Lodi's Montague Vineyard, which contributes a vivid violet top note. The winemaking process is a tightrope act: each variety is direct-pressed, settled, and racked into a single stainless tank as it ripens, resulting in one sequential, months-long, cool native fermentation. Malolactic fermentation is inhibited to preserve bright, taut acidity.

The resulting wine is light and delicate, showing notes of strawberry creamsicle, jasmine, wet sand, white chocolate, and citrus candy, altogether lovely and dry, evoking Provence by way of Santa Cruz. The color leans coral or pale salmon, a gentle, wispy hue in keeping with the house style, with an initial scent effusively perfumed with flowers and Asian fruit.

This is a refreshing, food-friendly rosé perfect for warm-weather sipping, grilled chicken, or a light seafood dish.