Argentine grapes meet the light crisp style of many a Long Island rosé in Wölffer Estate Vineyard‘s all-new “Finca Wölffer Wine.”
This pale pink wine is made from 52 percent malbec grapes, 11 percent pinot noir, 11 percent pinot gris, 10 percent bonarda, 8 percent torrontés and 8 percent cabernet sauvignon, much of which was grown on land owned by Wölffer co-owner Marc Wölffer at the base of the Andes Mountains in Argentina.
But what distinguishes this blend from a typical Argentine rosé is the way it was made.
Sometimes, when a winemaker desires to make a a darker or more tannic red, he or she will remove some of the juice in the early stage of the winemaking process through a process known as bleeding, or the saignée method. That wine then becomes rosé.
But to make Finca, rosé was the primary goal. That means the grapes were picked earlier and the skins of the grapes were left on for a short while after crushing to give the wine a bit of color.
“The rosé on the side can be nice, but it’s not what this rosé is,” said Wölffer winemaker and partner Roman Roth. “This is planned. This is deliberately picked. It’s just as lovely as our rosés from Long Island.”
Roth worked with the crew at Dominio del Plata winery in Argentina to make the wine, sending his instructions via email and making two trips to South America.
He noted that using different varietals, like the aromatic white torrontés, added complexity and depth to the wine.
“There’s so much malbec coming from Argentina, we thought, how could you be different,” Roth said.
Finca Wölffer Rosé will not be available for purchase at the Sagaponack Winery, but you can look for it at liquor and wine stores on the East End and New York City, as well as at the soon-to-open Wölffer Kitchen in Sag Harbor.
Just 3,814 cases of this wine were made: a stark contrast to the 20,200 cases of the winery’s flagship rosé, Wölffer Estate Rosé. Finca also joins Wölffer’s popular “Summer in a Bottle” in its portfolio of rosés.
The wine will be available July 1.
