2021 Sinegal Estate Rosé of Grenache

Sinegal Estate was founded by David Sinegal, who in 2013 purchased the historic Inglewood estate in St. Helena. Sinegal, a former retail executive at Costco, Starbucks and other companies, updated the 30- acre, 19th century estate and brought in respected Napa winemaker Tony Biagi. Veteran viticulturalist Jim Barbour was hired as vineyard manager. The first commercial releases were 2013 Cabernet Sauvignons. The Inglewood estate, not to be confused with Inglenook Estate in Rutherford, was planted with vineyards in 1881. Sinegal and his team refurbished the vineyards, which are at various elevations from the valley floor up to the lower levels of the Mayacamas Mountains. Like a growing number of other new, artisanal Napa wineries producing just a few luxury wines, Sinegal Estate’s wines are available generally by mailing list only. The estate’s Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Francs have impressed reviewers in their debut vintages. Robert M. Parker rated them in the mid to high-90s and noted that “These are all super-impressive wines, so consumers should get on the Sinegal bandwagon before it becomes better known.”

Sonoma Valley AVA is Sonoma County’s original winegrowing district. Designated as an AVA in 1981, it includes 14,000 vineyard acres in a long, narrow valley that runs north-south. Rather romantically, the valley is also called The Valley of the Moon. The oldest winery in the AVA, and one of the oldest in California, is Buena Vista Winery, founded in 1857 by a Hungarian count who planted vineyards in Wisconsin before moving to California. Today there are nearly 60 wineries in the AVA producing a variety of wines, from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon and Gewurztraminer. The appellation is bordered by mountain ranges on the east and west, which partly account for Sonoma Valley’s unique terroir. The mountains protect it from the cooling weather of the Pacific Ocean and fruit ripens well.