Stagiaire, "Desires, Actuality, and The Spaces In Between" 2020

100% Pinot Noir from Gerhard's Vineyard. Rosato. A wine with a bewildering provenance, written below by the winemaker Brent Mayeaux:

All of the Pinot from my Summit vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains which came in across three separate picks was turned into rose due to the smoke conditions. The latest and ripest pick fermented and aged in barrels for a year. Going into the next harvest season, some barrels were dry and beautiful. Some were sweet with volatile kisses adorning them. And some were in a space between. I made the decision to pump the barrels over the skins of the 2021 Pinot from that vineyard to try to get the yeast to eat up the remaining sugar... and idk hope for a miracle. After three days, we drained the free run to barrels over several hours (and I wish I had pressed the skins and kept that separate but I didn't) where it stayed for another year before being bottled. During this process in 2021 Pascal looked at me with what I think was respect and fear for my sanity and said that something had clicked for him that day and he finally understood my winemaking. I don't know what he meant. So here is 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot rosato with two years elevage and three days of maceration. It is pretty fucking cool and good and the miracle I didn’t know I was hoping for. Sea spray on cherry chapstick coated lips. Coconut water on the beach. A glance that is a flirt and a whole life story at once. Reminds me of Anders wines. V Stable. Drinks better on day two. Lots of life ahead. Can decant. 12.7% ABV