The 2009  Malbec rosé, in tank at this moment, is presenting an interesting opportunity to further refine a winemaking style. Having tried a style with virtually no skin contact and moderate lees aging (2006) , then a no-SO2 juice style with little lees contact (2007), followed by an SO2 at crush plus two to three days skin contact before saigneé and again a limited lees contact style (2008), I may finally be settling down. Still, I won’t promise to stop experimenting, especially when each year brings new variables.

For 2009 I went so far as to craft a plan, which was quickly modified as the grapes began coming in. The relatively low sugar content of some of the grapes combined with big berry sizes prompted me to increase the percentage of juice drained from the fermenter, up to about 30% in one case. The saigneé was done after as little as one hour up to one day of skin contact. By selecting only the lowest-sugar lots (around 21-22 Brix) I am hoping to finish with a wine near 12% alcohol, which is civilized for a rosé.

Fermentation was deliberately warm, in the 60s Fahrenheit, to try to capture more red-fruit character. The next step was to retain the fine lees (the expired yeast cells left over from primary fermentation) by racking the cloudy wine along with the fluffy top layer off the settlings in the tank. Now the plan was simply to age the wine for two or three months in contact with the fine lees, to build some creamy character into the mid-palate.

Tasting the wine at this point with John Quinones (the new winemaker at Roxyann Winery, which is where I make my wines) he suggested we try to promote malolactic fermentation. Since the 2009 has plenty of natural acidity, and since the flavors were presenting an herbal edge, I readily agreed. Inoculation was simple; we took a couple of buckets of newly drained, dry, free run Malbec from a tank slated for Velo production and pitched them into the top of the rosé tank, bringing a little extra color as well as a healthy malolactic culture along with it.

I’ll keep tinkering with this wine, but I think we are on a very positive track for this 2009 version.