Rosella’s Vineyard Pinots Blindtasted (Roar, Testarossa and Siduri)

Pinot Noirs from Rosella's Vineyard
Intro by Ross Bott
Rosella's Vineyard is owned by Gary Franscioni, the "other" of the two very famous Garys of the Santa Lucia Highlands. The first Gary is the bigger-than-life Gary Pisoni of Pisoni Vineyard, which put the Santa Lucia Highlands on the map as THE place to grow Pinot Noir. And of course they together own the Garys' Vineyard, now highly regarded and almost as well-known as Pisoni.

Gary Franscioni planted his vineyard over the course of seven years from 1996-2003 to Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, naming the vineyard after his wife, Rosella.* The Pinots are by far the most famous and sought after of the three, but some feel the Syrahs may in the long run be as good or better. Four clones of Pinot are planted -- the Dijon clones 828 and 777 along with the Pommard and Pisoni clones. The vineyard seems to capture the best that California can offer in Pinot character in most vineyards, combining the richness of Pisoni Pinots with a bit more of the elegance and finesse of French Burgundies. Franscioni continues to tend the vines meticulously himself, making sure that each vine's root system is well established before allowing the vine to start to produce grapes.

There are a host of wineries making Rosella's Pinot's, including Siduri, Testarossa, August West, Miner, Morgan, Loring, AP Vin, Pelerin, Vision and several others, plus of course Gary Franscioni's own Roar label, which is made from his favorite 1.25 acre plot within the Rosella's Vineyard. Tonight we will focus on three -- Siduri, Testarossa and Roar -- with vintages spanning 2002 through 2005, to allow us to compare different winemaker's styles with the same grapes and vintage, as well as to see what the uproar over Rosella's is all about.

We started with a Chardonnay from the same vineyard.

• 2005 Novy Family Wines Chardonnay Rosella's Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Pale yellow color; clean, floral and faintly stone fruit nose; creamy texture, with sweet, rich fruit, a little one-dimensional now, but may show more complexity with time; medium hot finish

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Rather a disappointing showing from at least two of the three Pinot producers represented in this tasting. The Siduris did not show well at all, taking four of the bottom five of the group's rankings, and including a couple bottles that tasted, in one case, seriously faulty and in the other, somewhat faulty. The Roars did half well, with the '04 coming in first but the '03 ranking next to the bottom. The Testarossas had a solid showing, taking spots 2 and 3 for the group (and 1 and 2 for me). Maybe it was the yellow full moon tugging at some of these wines tonight that made at least a few of them seem quite disjointed.

• 2004 Roar Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 89 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #1 (my #3) – 28 pts; 2 firsts, 9 seconds, 3 thirds, 0 last place – palest in color; somewhat Burgundian nose of tart strawberry, lime and mineral; tight, sweet strawberry and smoky red fruit palate, with brown sugar edges and a little too much heat; medium finish

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2003 Testarossa Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 92 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #2 (my #1) – 50 pts; 2, 0, 2, 0 – very clear, medium cherry red color; focused deep cherry, black cherry and allspice nose with a woody cast; tasty, ripe cherry, plum and red fruit with some complexity, mineral and spice; medium finish

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2002 Testarossa Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 91 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #3 (my #2) – 54 pts; 2, 1, 3, 2 – nice, rich, ripe strawberry and caramel nose; tasty, solid ripe strawberry and cherry fruit palate with good acidity and focus and some creamy oak texture toward the medium finish 91+ pts. (still tastes quite young; should benefit from another couple years of age)

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2004 Siduri Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 82 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #4 (my #7) – 61 pts; 4, 2, 0, 2 – sappy, unusual cherry, dried cherry, VA nose with a nutty Madeira note; very tart cherry, rhubarb and red fruit with tangy acidity and Balsamic quality, but too reduced and arch; medium finish (has some of the same faults as the '02 Siduri but not as exaggerated as the '02; I correctly guessed they'd be from the same producer)

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2005 Siduri Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 86 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #5 (my #4) – 61 pts.; 0, 0, 6, 1 – odd, reduced nose of red fruit and apple; palate much like the nose, with tart cherry and black cherry fruit, lime and quinine, a little disjointed; short-medium finish

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2003 Siduri Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 85 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #6 (my #5) – 62 pts.; 2, 0, 3, 1 – narrow watermelon, red fruit and tangy spice nose; tight vanilla and smoky red fruit palate that gets hot toward medium finish, disjointed

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2003 Roar Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 84 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #7 (my #6) – 64 pts.; 1, 1, 0, 1 – odd, restrained, narrow nose of dried cherry and raspberry; tight, with the caramel oak muscling out the cherry fruit, hot too; medium finish

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2002 Siduri Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard 78 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Group's #8 (my #8) – 88 pts.; 0, 1, 0, 6 – darkest in color and a bit cloudy; reduced black cherry, chewing gum, Necco wafer and cinnamon nose; very tangy, off, Balsamic palate; short-medium finish (possibly heat damaged? definitely faulty)

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No