Rosati Family Winery

Winemaking

Our Philosophy

The Rosati Family believes in coming together often with family and friends. Our reunions are a time to enjoy camaraderie along side tantalizing food and wines.

Great wine begins in the vineyard. Our original bud wood was a gift in 1987 from Dave Bennion, a co-founder of Ridge Vineyards. Dave selected vines from Jimsomare Vineyard and planted those cuttings at 1,000 feet above the Russian River at our ranch in southern Mendocino County. For many years Dave had made himself at home hunting mushrooms and pigs at the ranch; during these joyous times, he discovered the most suitable vineyard sites.

As Zelma Long, our consulting winemaker, likes to say, “less is better”. Our goal and hers is to have our wines reflect the terroir. She believes that fine wines are created in response to the annual circumstances of the vine condition, the prevailing weather patterns and, of course, the grapes’ character. Her seasoned winemaking skills, honed initially from 1970 to 1979 at Mondavi, are what we rely upon as well as our own tastes.

We use technology to assess and understand our vines, the grapes and, ultimately, the wines. Our wines are produced from the drain wines following a cold soak and slow extraction. For 18 to 20 months we store the wines in the finest once or twice used French Oak cooperage. Typically, five years post harvest, we release our wines to top tier restaurants, wine bars and retail establishments.

We hope that you will enjoy our gold medal wines and, some day, visit us in Mendocino for a view of the steep and striking hillside vineyard itself.