2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir - Alta Pavina

Bright strawberry, dry chalk, crunchy watermelon. Fresh peach, cool hibiscus, cherry lemonade. Limestone and mountain spring, sweet grass and tropical flowers. Radiantly perfumed intense fruit erupts with pomegranate, raspberry, and pink lady apple - strikingly ripe and aromatic yet still quite focused and tart. The booming and billowy nature of the bouquet completely dissipates on the palate, instead showcasing remarkably lean tension driven by tight-grained chalky minerality. Bone dry but more substantial than it is Provençal, sitting at medium in body with high acidity and an exciting textural crunch. Well balanced, refreshing, and quite delicious. This 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir by Alta Pavina is an unlikely yet terrific single-vineyard rosé from high in the mountains of Spain.

Alta Pavina exists as a complete anomaly in central Spain. Their estate vineyard is located in a particularly cold section of Ribera del Duero at over 3000ft of elevation and surprisingly is planted primarily to Pinot Noir. This bottling, crafted using 100% Pinot Noir sourced from this estate vineyard and vinified as a rosé, is an exceptional achievement for a region that is typically thought to be extremely hot and arid. This wine is fresh, juicy, and balanced, combining bright and expansive fruit with intense driving mineral tones. It is more broad shouldered than most old world Pinot-based rosé yet it is much more mineral than most new world equivalents. This is a really interesting and delicious wine that proves there is an exception to every rule.