2021 Vino Intrepido 'The Sharpest Thorn' Heathcote Sangiovese Rose

With much encouragement (insistence) from my Mum and younger sister, I decided to make my first rosé from sangiovese in 2019, as my favourite examples from Italy and Australia come from this. Heathcote is the only region I consider buying sangiovese from. The reason I love sangiovese as a rosé variety is that you can get a lovely pale slightly bronze colour, plenty of fresh red fruits but also a dry somewhat savoury expression. For this vintage I was able to source grapes from the Willoughby Bridge vineyard in Colbinabbin.Fruit was harvested at optimum ripeness to preserve freshness. The maceration was literally the time it took me to drive the fruit back from the vineyard to the winery and send the grapes to press, about three hours. After juice settling, two mature red barriques were filled and the rest to stainless steel for fermentation. The wine was blended then bottled in August.There is a saying that goes something like, “the most beautiful rose can have the sharpest thorn”. Much like the name for my pinot grigio, the image I was attempting to convey was that though this is a lovely pretty and bright rosé it is dry and has a bit of bite to it. It also means that no matter how perfect something may seem there is always another side to it.