Santa Maria Valley

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What a stunningly noble and delicious wine! Roussanne’s like chardonnay with a slightly thicker texture, and it’s like viognier with a more elegant and less flamboyant scent. This wine possesses an expressive aroma of honeysuckle and toast that immediately attracts attention.  And although hardly anyone has heard of Roussanne, when we serve it in our tasting room, customers overwhelmingly enjoy this full flavored but fresh white wine. Unique and wonderfully good!

Roussanne is an obscure white grape varietal that is primarily planted in the Rhone valley of France. There it makes a generous wine with lots of structure and an appealing earthy/floral aroma. In the Savoie region near the alps it’s known as Bergeron, and Roussanne grown there is lighter and livelier.

At Bien Nacido Vineyard we get the best of both worlds—ripe fruit and freshness. Santa Maria is so cool that the fruit retains acidity and fully ripens in late October, and since it rarely rains in the fall, we obtain healthy grapes that only need a bit of sorting. The wine is made simply: whole clusters are pressed into juice, that juice is put in older French oak barrels to ferment and age and then it’s bottled in the spring.

Blend: 100% Roussanne | Alc: 13.0% | Vinification: Barrel Fermented in Neutral French Oak | Barrel Aging: 7 Months | Total Production: 143 cases

Press Reviews

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous

“The 2014 Roussanne Bien Nacido Vineyard is superb. Rich, intense and oily, the 2014 offers up a compelling interplay of orange marmalade, apricots, honey, almond and butter. Broad and ample on the palate, the 2014 nevertheless retains a surprising amount of freshness and acidity, both of which give the wine vibrancy. The 2014 is impeccably balanced from start to finish, not to mention a real joy to taste. Part of this block formerly went to Bob Lindquist at Qupé.”- AG 93 Points

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“The 2014 Roussanne Bien Nacido is beautiful and shines for its purity of fruit. Loaded with notions of citrus blossom, stone fruits and distinct minerality, it’s medium-bodied, tight, fresh and focused on the palate. This is a terrific Roussanne that should age gracefully.”- JD 89 Points