Wine of the Week: Notre Vue, 2019 Chalk Hill, Sonoma County, GSM Rosé Wine

With this year’s pandemic and the wildfires of recent years, winemakers have been truly tested in their temperaments. The upside is that when they can ride out calamity, it shows up in the glass.

“If I can craft beautiful wines under incredible circumstances, then the sky is the limit in calm waters,” said Alex Holman, winemaker of Windsor’s Notre Vue.

Before grappling with the pandemic, the winery endured a structural blaze in its tasting room and barrel storage last May. In one evening the winery lost its entire inventory — 515 barrels and 3,200 cases. Five months later, the Kincade fire forced the winemaking team to evacuate for four days. Luckily that fire only caused minimal damage, with the loss of an outbuilding and some irrigation lines.

Holman is the unflappable winemaker behind our wine of the week winner — Notre Vue, 2019 Chalk Hill, Sonoma County, GSM Rosé Wine at $29. This tangy rosé, nice and dry, makes a great poolside quaffer. It has notes of wild strawberry, peach and a hint of nectarine. Buoyed by bright acidity, this impressive blend — 34% grenache and 33% each of syrah and mourvedre — finishes crisp. It’s striking.

Other tasty rosés in the lineup include Inman Family’s Endless Crush, 2019 OGV Estate, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, Rosé of Pinot Noir, $38; Silver Trident Winery, 2019 Apollo’s Folly, Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County Rosé of Pinot Noir, $32; MacRostie, 2019 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Rosé, $25 and Cuvaison, 2019 Napa Valley, Los Carneros Pinot Noir Rosé, $30.

As for the Notre Vue, Holman said this rosé is intentional; it’s not a byproduct of another wine. The grapes, picked for their crisp acidity, are harvested earlier, specifically for rosé.

“The combination of the three varietals — grenache, syrah and mourvedre — have a truly unique flavor profile,” Holman said. “The large gap in phenolic ripeness between syrah and mourvedre makes most winemakers unwilling to take the risk. But I learned the magic of under-ripe mourvedre in an old-vine zinfandel field blend early in my career, so I wasn’t deterred.”

After the structural fire, the winery wanted to increase its inventory with wines that were quicker to produce.

“Of course, pinot noir rosé has always been the consumers’ choice, and we thought it would remain the star,” Holman said. “With 16 varietals on property, I considered several choices in front of me. I didn’t want to just follow the trend of grenache, even though I’ve always loved the variety. I’ve always been enamored with co-fermentation as a creative process, and I wanted to start a true Rhone varietal program.”

The winemaker, with a chemistry degree from Fresno State, created a GSM program. His trio includes sparkling rosé, still rosé and red table wine, each impossible to duplicate.

The 59-year old winemaker said the pandemic has everyone wondering what the future holds.

“I made some fantastic wine my first year on the estate under very unusual circumstances,” Holman said. “But now, do we expand our programs? With normal sales down, how do we determine how much wine we should produce for 2020? Regardless, we’re very excited for the future.”

Wine writer Peg Melnik can be reached at peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5310.