Robert Sinskey Vineyards

Pure Fun in the New World…
Just for the Blanc of it!

I need an escape from these surreal times. Nothing fancy, just a moment or two free from the anxiety created by this administration’s inaction on climate change and the sense of national shame I feel from infantile presidential tweets. All I want is to spend a few hours listening to music while cooking a tasty dinner with Maria and enjoying it all with a non-cerebral bottle of wine... one that delivers pleasure and works with everything we love to eat.

Some wines make you work too hard. Pop and sniff the cork, let the wine breathe, slosh it in a decanter, swirl it in the perfect glass shape, take a whiff, taste it and hope it will open up and work with the food you’ve worked so hard to make. Naw, not tonight. I want a sure thing, something good, something easy, something tasty… I want a pure, yummy, Pinot Blanc!

Pinot Blanc doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. The “point” people tend to reserve their highest scores for Chardonnay or varieties with more intensity. Sometimes intensity gets in the way of pleasure.

A few years ago, Eric Asimov wrote in the New York Times:

“I’m not claiming greatness or profundity for Pinot Blanc. I am saying that from the right place and in the right hands, Pinot Blanc can make distinctive, delicious wines that deliver much pleasure. I’ll always have a place for a wine like that...”

I know we are growing it in the right place and I hope it is in the right hands - that is not for us to judge. I do know that RSV’s Pinot Blanc delivers pleasure... and that is the essence of wine - to joyfully enhance a meal.

The pretense of wine can interfere with our ability to enjoy. We work hard to analyze it, we forgive hard tannin, high alcohol or too much oak, saying a certain wine will be great if given enough air or time. Sometimes I think we feel the need to work for it to alleviate our guilt for taking pleasure in indulgence. Why can’t we just enjoy with guilt-free, hedonistic abandon? Because a lot of times, guilt comes from feeling naughty that we are doing the wrong thing. RSV believes that a fine wine should not hurt your palate or the planet and we do our best to farm in a conscientious manner that furthers our mission to heal an ailing earth. But none of this matters if the wine does not taste good. RSV’s Pinot Blanc is just plain delicious.

We give you two opportunities to indulge: a little half-bottle for those intimate evenings with your significant other (or a date with yourself), and a big magnum for when you have a group of friends over and you’re ready to party. Blanc on!

Shine On

Some people describe Pinot Blanc as a simple wine. That’s not always the case. Its expression can be sublime, especially when Pinot Blanc is planted in the right place. When RSV first planted Pinot Blanc in 1997 on a very small block of RSV’s O.S.R. vineyard in the Carneros region, we had no role models, so we did not know what to expect until there were enough grapes to make a modicum of wine. When I first tasted the Pinot Blanc from this block, it sent shivers down my spine. There was a vibrancy and luminosity that I hadn’t tasted in other Pinot Blanc, including those from the Old World. My senses were hit with crisp apple, lemon, a touch of melon and a freshness that made my mouth water. I knew this Pinot Blanc was special then and it remains special to me to this day.

It is a pleasure to cook for RSV’s Pinot Blanc. Anything you throw at it, it takes head on. Whether it be a salad with citrus and shaved parmesan, prosciutto wrapped around melon or Brandade Fritters - crunchy on the outside and perfectly creamy on the interior - RSV’s Pinot Blanc can handle it. It was made for all the foods you love to eat and is truly a wine for the table. Shine on Pinot Blanc!

Until the Next Wine....
Maria

EAT: Brandade Fritters

Yet another drought year, 2015 experienced 75% of normal precipitation with a snow pack in the Sierras at the lowest level in recorded history. Moreover, unseasonably warm temperatures in late winter and early spring resulted in an early bud break. Fortunately, flowering happens later in the Carneros than warmer regions, allowing for a more uniform fruit set than up-valley vineyards, but with smaller berries and clusters that resulted in 60% of the weight of the 2014 vintage. Though less in quantity, the quality is through the roof with vibrant flavor and beautiful, natural, crisp acidity.

RSV’s organically farmed Los Carneros vineyards are planted with four blocks of Pinot Blanc from three different vineyards. The grapes were individually night harvested by hand as each block achieved optimal ripeness. The fruit arrived cold in the wee hours of the morning at the winery and whole cluster pressed. The individual lots were cold fermented “low and slow” in small stainless steel tanks and allowed to rest on the lees before being blended by taste to create the final master cuvée. This wine is bottled in .375 (half bottles) and 1.5 (magnums) only.