A Tribute to Grace Rosé

A Tribute to Grace Rosé of Grenache 2014: Line up all the synonyms for grace — elegance, attractiveness, lissomness — and you’ve barely scratched what makes this rosé a stunner. Winemaker Angela Osborne hails from New Zealand but is a champion of grapes grown in the Santa Barbara Highlands, aka the high desert near Cuyama.

Grenache is her grape, and this version, despite its entrancing pale pink-to-quicksilver color, surprises with its depth of nose and length of finish. It’s a wine that if you were blindfolded you’d easily assume was red.

It kicks off with floral notes, well, more a bouquet, and then follows with a mix of watermelon and strawberry macerated in a quick blitz of citrus, all buoyed upon stony notes of minerals. At a mere 13.4% alcohol, it has the flavor some fruit bombs fail to detonate at 15%, and its racy acid core makes it wonderful with all sorts of food, from pickled shrimp to a curried chicken salad.

See gracewinecompany.com.