“We want it to be fresh, bright, fun and lively—all the things that make summer good. That’s what should make Rosé good.”—Anthony Beckman, winemaker, Balletto Vineyards
Anthony Beckman, winemaker at Balletto Vineyards for 16 years, can’t say enough about the Balletto Rosé of Pinot Noir, voted by NorthBay biz readers as Best Rosé for the fourth time. Of course, it is delicious. But there is something special about this Rosé. “We love drinking it,” he says. “We love making it. We love farming it. It’s become one of our most important and, more importantly, most fun wines that we make.” It brings to mind summer afternoons, dinners on patios and music wafting through the vineyards. “Ironically, what we don’t want in Rosé is a lot of tannins,” says Beckman. “We want it to be fresh, bright, fun and lively—all the things that make summer good. That’s what should make Rosé good.”
An exemplary Rosé doesn’t happen by chance, says Beckman. “The most important part about a Rosé is that it’s made intentionally,” he says. “Meaning that this is a wine that is made for nothing else than Rosé.” He adds that when he and John Balletto are making wine together, their Pinot Noir grapes are pruned, farmed, picked early and whole cluster-pressed for specifically for Rosé. For him, that’s what gives this wine its uniqueness, distinction and identity. “We’re estate grown, which is a huge advantage, because we get to pick exactly where we want the wine to come from.” They have total control of the process from pruning to harvest and everything that happens in between.
Harvest comes early for this Rosé. “We’ve been farming it from the same vineyard since 2012,” he says. “We’ve learned that this block needs to have four canes. So that it retains acidity and then we’re picking it in mid-to-late August. So, it’s an early pick. And that keeps things fresh and bright and pretty.”
Like developing a great wine, developing the right customer base takes serious intention, too. It takes work to build and keep a customer base, says Beckman, and he and the Ballettos have pushed hard to get to this level. People know and trust the brand, and many times customers order it without even tasting. “A lot of wineries start with marketing,” he says, “and then make a wine brand. We’ve started with wines. We’ve had zero marketing for a long, long time.” He adds that the brand’s goal is to make good wine and treat customers well. “That’s kind of the motto here. One customer at a time, for life.”
[Photos courtesy of Balletto Vineyards]
