BOTTLE SHOCK - A ROSÉ AND THE JOURNEY TO RELEASE

As a wine critic and reviewer it was with great excitement that Jake and I spent a morning at the Lorenzi Estate bottling line capturing the process of bottling. At the end of the bottling, we left with three bottles. The plan, as an official reviewer for the winery, was to taste each wine one week apart and talk about its progress from the moment it was bottled until release.

When a bottle of wine is fresh off the bottling line it goes into what is called 'bottle shock'. This essentially means the wine has been brutally pushed through a filtration system, and then quickly rushed to fill bottles. Since wine is active and alive, and constantly changing with age, it's no wonder it reacts to this process.

The wine fundamentally shuts down. It's a defense mechanism. Think of it like shell-shock. It usually takes several weeks at minimum for the wine to start relaxing, opening up and showing it's true expression again.

For the first tasting, one week after bottling, the wine was still very tight. When opened there was barely a hint of the fruit that had been so expressive and lively while it was still in tank. The most you got was a hint of the strawberries and raspberries waiting to reveal. The good news was how bright an lively it was, with good acid, a smooth mouthfeel, and the promise that something special was coming.

Now, on to tasting #2...

Round two after two weeks. For this one, I also paired it with an Italian Sausage and Potato Fritatta with Harissa. Rosé wines, thanks to their crispness and lively bright fruit, love to play with spicy food.

For this second tasting, the wine was truly starting to open up. This is what I sent to Lorenzi Estate after tasting this second bottle two weeks after bottling:

“Provence in a bottle. This is an elegant, balanced clean and fresh rosé. With strawberry/raspberry jam playing the major star. This is going to be a wonderful wine for warm weather and spicy food.”

And for the third and final tasting...

From the first moment I tasted this wine with Don Lorenzi while still in tank, I knew it was going to be special, but I didn't realize it was going to be this special. This wine has officially shed its bottle shock and is ready for the world!

Unlike the first two tastings, this time the fruit was so round and full on the nose, and added layers of rose hips gave it an extra boost. As has been the case since the first taste in tank many months ago, the strawberries and raspberries are center stage, with a fun jammy quality in this dry, fresh wine.

Along with retaining a bright, crisp profile, there is now a rich mouthfeel rounding it out mid-palate. To make this wine even more sophisticated and alluring, toasted almonds have joined the dance, rounding out the finish. This is truly a stunner rosé, and with only about 100 cases made, it is sure to fly out of the tasting room. 

This is a 93 Point wine without debate, and probably a 94 as it settles and continues to add layers with more complexity.

We also did a video of the bottling line for you to enjoy...

And a video of each of the three bottle shock tasting moments...