Kaena, Grenache Rose, 2012, Santa Ynez Valley, California

I finally got to taste this beautiful rose on a trip to the Santa Ynez Valley last month.  I have been wanting to get my hands on this wine for so long after falling in love with pretty much everything I have tasted from Hawaiin-born winemaker Mikael Sigouin.  He knows his way around a Rhone style white as wells as lovely single vineyard Grenaches.  But can he make a knock out rose?  The answer is a resounding yes!  

This Grenache rose is a fun dark pink in the glass hinting at ripe California fruit.  It's got a playful candied yet fresh nose evoking vanilla, hot cotton candy, and circus peanuts.  The wine-maker does a good job of taming the ripeness of the fruit and bringing out lovely clean strawberry and Asian pear flavors riding on a silky smooth body.  This wine ends super clean with just a hint of green on the finish.

It's funny because when we visited the Beckmen tasting room (where Sigouin is also the wine-maker) in Los Olivos they told us that their rose was sold out even though it is still widely available on Oahu.  However, I have hunted long and far for the Kaena rose over here and have never seen it!

Honolulu late afternoon sun shining through a Foxen tasting glass!