Iron Horse Vineyards Brut Rose (2)

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Today’s wine offering is the 2006 Brut Rose, not to be confused with Brut by Faberge, a cologne first launched in 1964.

Whereas the 2006 Brut Rose is made predominantly from Pinot Noir and is bright, bold, vibrant and quite dry, Brut by Faberge is made predominately from the sweat of an excessively hairy man and is cheap, acrid, embarrassing and quite off-putting.

The gorgeous color of the 2006 Brut Rose comes from letting the Pinot Noir sit on the skins. When Brut by Faberge is allowed to sit on the skin, it inflicts a burning sensation akin to dunking your head in a vat of battery acid.

By nose, the 2006 Brut Rose evokes strawberries and also lemon by mouth. Brut by Faberge evokes shame and desperation by every sense.

This particular Brut Rose vintage is aged four plus years en tirage. Brut by Faberge is for men aged 60+ with comb overs, and certainly not appropriate for a boy of 10 who is pretty sure he wrote Drakkar Noir on his list, MOM!

• Appellation: Green Valley of Russian River Valley
• Blend: 81% Pinot Noir 19% Chardonnay
• Alcohol: 13.5% v/v
• Acidity: .79 g/100ml
• Residual Sugar: 0.48 g/100ml
• pH: 3.25
• Malolactic Fermentation: None
• Barrels: None

Hand harvested in the chill of early morning, the Pinot Noir grapes are de stemmed into stainless steel tanks where they are cold-soaked (using dry ice) for seven days. A bit of steely Chardonnay is blended to add a firm acid backbone. After pressing the juice slowly ferments in stainless steel tanks at 62? to 65? F retaining the bright fresh Pinot Noir fruit tones. The dosage for the 2006 Brut Rose is a mere 4 ml of Special Lex (a simple syrup made of 2 ml sugar, 1 ml Chardonnay and 1 ml Pinot Noir)

At Iron Horse “Estate Bottled” means that the winemaking begins in the vineyard. Their location in Green Valley represents the very best soil, climate and aspects for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. What they call “precision winegrowing,” all pruning, canopy management, irrigation and cover crop decisions are determined on a block-by-block (and sometimes even vine-by-vine) basis, considering both the vintage at hand and the long-term needs of the land.

Woot