Wine of the week: Lucy, 2023 Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County Rosé of Pinot Noir

Mark Pisoni was 5 years old when he first began working in his family’s Monterey County vineyards.

Today the grape farmer, who spends most of his days in the vines, cultivated the grapes in our wine of the week winner — the Lucy, 2023 Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County Rosé of Pinot Noir at $24. Buoyed with bright acidity, this rosé is striking. It has notes of ruby grapefruit, stone fruit and watermelon in the blend.

“We ended up with was an exceptionally pure and focused rosé of pinot noir,” Pisoni said. “In 2023, it was a very late vintage. Given how cold and late the season was, we did extra thinning to prevent any botrytis from developing.”

High quality rosé is difficult to produce and requires great attention to detail, Pisoni explained.

The family farms its vines with a combination of Old World and New World methods.

“Traditional methods include hand farming, walking, observing and tasting,” Pisoni said. “More modern techniques include weather stations, plant sensors and more to ensure we grow the best fruit possible.”

Founded in 1998, Pisoni Family Vineyards produces about 3,500 cases of wine yearly. Pisoni manages the farming side of the family business while his brother, Jeff Pisoni is at the helm of winemaking.

The farmer is well schooled, with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from UC Davis in agricultural economics and a Master’s of Science from Cornell University in Farm Business Management.

The most challenging part of making rosé, Pisoni said, is the weather.

“We do all we can, but at the end of the day all our precious fruit is hanging by the vine and subject to the weather,” Pisoni said. “In 2023, it was also stressful. The very late year brought on a potential for botrytis and made many people wonder if there was even enough time in the season to ripen some varieties.”

To supplement its chardonnay and pinot noir bottlings, the winery introduced the Lucy label in 2005.

“Our Lucy wines have a very strong community and charity aspect,” Pisoni explained. “Every bottle we sell, we donate $1 to various charitable organizations. The Lucy rosé donation goes towards Breast Cancer research. To date with all our Lucy wines we have raised almost $250,000. That’ an impressive amount for a small family business, and it has been fantastic to have been able to make such a difference.”

Pisoni knew he wanted to play a role in the family business since he was teenager.

“When I was in high school, my grandfather (Eddie Pisoni) and I would wake up at 5 a.m. to check the fields around the ranch,” he said. “These early mornings with him and feeling close to the land made me realize I wanted to do this forever.”

You can reach Wine Writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @pegmelnik.