Wine

Wine Of The Week: 2011 Dashe Cellars Vin Gris

Posted by Martin D. Redmond on

My wine of the week for May 12-May 18  is the 2011 Dashe Cellars Vin Gris

The Winery

Dashe Cellars founded by Michael and Ann Dashe in 1996, is an urban winery located near Jack London Square in Oakland, CA.   Michael Dashe is the Winemaker, and Anne Dashe is the General Manager.  Between the two, they have 40-plus year experience in the wine business including experience at  some big-time wineries such as Ridge Vineyards, Far Niente, Chappellet, Schramsberg Wine Cellars in California;  Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château La Dominique in France,and  Cloudy Bay in New Zealand.   The winery produces about 10,000 cases annually.

This week, there’s a bit of a back story for the Wine of the Week (“WoW”) in that this is one of a couple of bottles of wine I took to the Dominican Republic (D.R.) for vacation (there’s a 3 bottle limit on bringing wine into D.R. but we thought there was a 2 bottle limit)  It’s a good thing I brought it along too.   The wines of the D.R….well let’s just say they leave a LOT to be desired.  After days of drinking what tasted like grape cherry juice or white grape juice (depending on whether it was red or white) with some alcohol in it,  I was seriously jonesing for some better wine.

It was Dashe to the rescue! As I was savoring this captivating Rosé, this song popped into my head and in my mind, I changed the chorus to…“A Dashe saved my vinous life”…;-)

The Wine

The wine is a blend of Grenache (70%), Petite Sirah (20%), and Zinfandel (10%) from Dry Creek vineyards.   To make this Vin Gris,  the juice from tanks of Grenache, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel is  “bled off”. This technique, used in France for generations, where it is referred to as Saignée  is when a Rosé is produced as a by-product of red wine fermentation.  Essentially, early in the fermentation process, after the fermenting juice has picked up some color, it is removed (“bled off”).  The red wine remaining in the vats is intensified as a result of the bleeding .
2011 Dashe Vin Gris

Cost: $14 Retail

Alcohol: 13.9%

75 cases produced

My tasting notes follow:

Light red color with a hint of orange hue and strawberry, cherry, and aromas. On the palate medium-bodied, and dry with nicely balanced fruit and acidity with ripe black cherry, and spice flavors. Long finish. – 89pts

Pairing with food

I love Rosés.  A dry Rosé such is as this is so versatile with a variety of foods.  What I appreciated about this one is that unlike a lot of Rosés that are light-bodied, this one had some weight, and was medium bodied so it was a great match for with the Yucatan Fish Tacos, Poblano Cream Soup & Goat Barbacoa (Goat Ribs with a mildly spicy cream sauce) I enjoyed it with.

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2 Comments

  1. Eileen Gross (@WineEveryday) says:
    May 22, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    Sorry to hear about the slim wine choices in the D.R. I guess there are only so many umbrella drinks you can stomach. Glad to hear you had brought some back up wine!.

    This wine sounds great, somewhat like a Claret, perhaps? more full bodied than a light and breezy Rose.

    I’ll try to pick some up when I’m in San Fransisco in July.

    Cheers!

    1. Martin D. Redmond says:
      May 22, 2012 at 6:24 pm

      Thanks Eileen…seems like you’ve got a lot of ground to cover when you come out here in July. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

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