Some wines are approachable. They loll with amiable ease and readily put up with everyday foibles, accepting everything from novice guzzling to poorly paired meals.
The 2013 Refosco from Rosa d’Oro doesn’t share the patience for such a tolerant approach. It rushes at you, eager to show off its deep fruit and rich, earthy nature.
Aromas sortie flat out from the glass, searching you out. Ripe dark plum and intense cassis arrive in basket loads, freshly plucked and filling each breath. Although the fervent fruit never really relents, you soon become aware that the Refosco is also a rooted wine. While the fruit pitches into an aromatic heldentenor, generous black loam, bittersweet chocolate and a hint of licorice form a sturdy choral foundation.
The wine is muscular on the nose, but carries itself with a keen sense of balance when sipped, the ripe fruits stepping measure for measure with the weightier flavors. Again, plum and cassis dominate, soaring over dense earthiness. The steady march stirs up an intriguing rhythmic motive, with a mellow hint of morel vying against a woody, bitter indication of almond shell — all while dark fruits play around the fringes.
The impressions linger, as a persistent texture clutches your palate. The mouthfeel is rich, the finish long and fulfilling.
It’s a bold wine, with an assertive bouquet. Yet it is also composed and beautifully structured.
“We’ve been happy with it,” said Rosa d’Oro winemaker Nick Buttitta. “It’s where we want it to be — the flavor, the color, the texture — it’s unique.”
Buttitta devoted a plot of vineyard land to the Italian varietal after a nursery intent on grafting vines offered him a batch of grapes.
The Kelseyville winemaker had never sampled Refosco, at least as a single varietal. Although considered an ancient grape with a lineage traced back to Roman times, the name has fallen into obscurity in a world of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.
According to the 2014 California crop report, facilities crushed just 440 tons of Refosco, compared to 11,254 tons of Tempranillo and 7,504 tons of Sangiovese. Even Nebbiolo outscored Refosco at the pads.
Although he acknowledges that some might back away from the wine’s powerful, almost dark nature, he found the results of that first vintage to be profound.
“I liked it so much I thought ‘let’s go ahead and plant some,’” Buttitta recalled.
The 2013 Refosco is Rosa d’Oro’s first 100 percent estate vintage.
Buttitta aged the wine in tamed oak — that is, wood with two or three rounds to its credit. Otherwise, he took a hands off approach, looking to showcase the flavors of the grape itself.
“We’re pretty minimalist in the way we approach it,” he said.
Rosa d’Oro allows a vocal varietal to sound off. Fans of hearty, expressive wines will welcome its tone with equal fervor.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
