INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 FIELD RECORDINGS 'FICTION' ROSE PASO ROBLES $18.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

This is always one of our favorite domestic Rose wines vintage after vintage, not because it's always trying to be 'the best' or 'most popular', but because it's always bringing something new to the table. Winemaker Andrew Jones is a long time viticulturalist traveling up and down the Central Coast, planting and maintaining vineyards for over twenty years. With such diverse terrain and climate to cover, there are vast numbers of grape varieties to work with that make sense, and many land owners willing to produce something that's unique. Many of the Field Recordings wines will change sources and evolve over time, but the Rose seems to change course almost yearly depending on which fruit suits him the best; a couple of the previous vintages featured Valdiguie, but this year is not on the list at all. The base concept this year is very Provencal, with Cinsault the dominant grape, and the unique player this time is a Spanish grape called Albillo Mayor. In Ribera del Duero and some other Tempranillo based wines this white grape is used in small amounts to help soften the tannins; here the grape brings a little extra acidity the same way Vermentino or Ugni Blanc do in Provence. Bright, quenching watermelon, cherry skin and citrus skin aromas with a little underlying note of dried herbs, very much Provence inspired but with a bit more red fruit. Round feeling in the mouth with a sort of red grapefruit-esque quenching juiciness and a little bit of acidity in the background to keep it from feeling too soft through the finish. A very Euro-centric style of Rose for a domestic producer, great for parties and light Summer dishes.

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