Looking Through Rosé Colored Glasses

In 2016 Bonterra won Wine Enthusiast’s American Winery of the Year so imagine how excited I was when the 2016 Bonterra Rosé showed up at my doorstep to taste for the June #winestudio program. Ya I was excited and honored. The folks at Bonterra wanted to make sure we looked hip and looked at everything through Rosé colored glasses they included a pair. I thought, this is going to be a fun tasting!

Let me tell you a little about Bonterra. They planted their first organic vineyard in 1987 and in 1993 they released their first vintage of organically farmed wine. This year, 2017 they are celebrating 30 years of organic farming. Congratulations to them! Their three vineyards (ranches) are certified Biodynamic by Demeter. What does that mean? It’s something that takes years to achieve. They must adhere to Demeter’s farm standard applying Biodynamic preparations and composts and increasing biodiversity. They have to be re-certified every year. To learn more about the Demeter certification visit http://www.demeter-usa.org/.

Their 2016 Mendocino County Rosé is a blend of 74% Grenache with some Sangiovese and Nebbiolo added. It’s a beautiful shade of pink. The wine has aromas of pineapple, rose, strawberry leading to a beautiful complex palate of orange, watermelon, peach, strawberries and a hint of lime. As the wine warms up some pomegranate flavor chimes in. This wine is dry, smooth and nicely balanced. It was a limited release and unfortunately is now sold out at the winery. However, if you see a bottle of this Rosé in the wine store, grab it. You’ll be glad you did!

I did pair the Rosé with homemade pesto. As you can see, I forgot to take a picture of the full plate and I guess I was hungry.

Going Organic with Bonterra Chardonnay

Since 1993 Bonterra has been producing wine from 100% organic grapes. For those wondering what that means, they use certified organic practices, which include composting, cover crops and biodiversity.

All of their wines must pass Demeter Certification before it can carry the Biodynamic designation.  What is the Biodynamic designation? They have to be certified by Demeter and live up to the Biodynamic farm and processing standards.  The farm standards are a comprehensive organic farming method that requires the creation and management of a closed system minimally dependent on imported materials.

The Demeter Biodynamic processing standard fundamentally ensures an unbroken chain of accountability from the farm to the finished product.  The standards protect against manipulation of the Biodynamic agricultural ingredients as much as possible and allow for the integrity to define the product.

This Bontera 2011 Chardonnay was suppose to get to me in time for a winechat, but unfortunately UPS didn't receive the memo and the packaged arrived 2 days late.

The Chardonnay fruit in this wine comes from Mendocino and 54% we fermented in a combination of neutral French and American oak, 16% was in new oak and was allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation.  The remaining 30% was fermented in stainless steel.  This is was reserves the crisp fruit flavors you get in this wine.

The wine had aromas of melon, pineapple and hints of floral and honey. The palate showed green apple, citrus and lime.  It had a nice rounded mouth feel due to the malolactic fermentation and there was a slight bitter note on the finish.

This wine retails for $14.00

Disclaimer: I received this wine as a media sample from the winery.

2010 Bonterra Merlot

I received this wine from the PR firm to take part in a twitter tasting.  Unfortunately the wine arrived a few days after the event.  No wine goes to waste in this house.

Bonterra is certified Organic. What does that mean....they don't use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and they have to go through significant auditing every year to make sure all their practices meets the USDA regulations.

Located in Mendocino County, they have been growing organically since 1987 and farm 915 acres all within 30 miles of their home McNab Ranch.  They have 8 wines in their portfolio and for this post I am going to talk about the 2010 Merlot.

The final blend of this Merlot had a touch of Petite Sirah, Syrah and Carignane, which most likely enhanced the color and give it the hint of distant spice I found on the finish.

Aromas of plum, cherries a bit of oak and chocolate filled the glass.  The palate expressed cherry and toasted oak that made it a little more on the woody side.  A thin body and texture lead to a quick finish with hints of vanilla and spice in the distance.

The wine retails around $13.99