And the Wine

Master  hereby

declares

the Sangre de Montana the official wine of Summer 2010.

Sangre de Montana 

Born many years ago here as a Mother of Invention, the 'Blood of the Mountain' (Sangre de Montana) was my way of enjoying the first harvests (too little to fill a barrel of each new varietal) of so many new red wine varieties that I was growing in the 1990s. It was a journey to France and the Basque Country (winning from the World grape Stomping Championship) back in 1986 where I really began to appreciate the world of rose wines. Walk into a wine shop in Paris and there will be 30 to choose from, mostly dry and hoping to be enjoyed with food. Contrarywise, walk into your local wine shop in America in 1986 and you'd find your favorite tootie fruitie White Zin but rarely  a dry rose.

Now our Sangre de Montana has evolved to a premeditated stylish rose made from a medley of Italian grapes. Our new 2009 consists of Zinfandel, Barbera, Sangiovese and Nebbiollo and made like a true rose where fermentation is allowed to start with skins for one to two days before we quickly pressed the new fermenting wine to separate the liquid from the skins and continue from that point to ferment in stainless tanks under cold temperature to retain all the delicate aromas and beautiful fruit flavors. The work involved to create a true rose is major and a hussle at a time when the whole winery is  cranked up. Yet our rose sells modestly for $10 or so dollars - one of those great values sometimes overlooked and under-appreciated.

The rich delicate flavors of red fruits coupled with the tart clean dry finish offers great refreshment all chilled up. the trick is to pair this Euro-style dry rose with foods of a savoy nature: an herbed garlicky grilled chicken, a savory broth of mussels, briny fresh oysters, a creamy pasta with vegetables, fresh poki salad or

Ahi Tuna

cubed and tossed fresh with toasted sesamee oil, green onions, roasted peppers, diced fresh garlic, chopped fresh ginger with a dash of rice vinegar and agave sweetener - salt and pepper of course to taste.