Chris Tracy, partner and winemaker at Channing Daughters Winery, could put out a red refosco every year and sell it out based on its scarcity and uniqueness alone — it’s refosco afterall, no one else is doing this. Their adventurous, sizeable wine club would clean them out quickly. But he doesn’t and hasn’t, instead making rose with it. It just wasn’t up to his standards. Until 2012.

Channing Daughters Winery 2012 Refosco isn’t released yet — look for it in the next couple of months — but even if it’s only made a couple times a decade, it’s worthwhile.

It’s very aromatic, bursting with black and blue fruits — think black currants, wild blueberries and plums — accented by floral and lavender notes and a subtle-but-distinct flinty minerality.

Chunky and crunchy with a rustic edge and plenty of grip, the palate is plump and juicy with intense dark fruit and herb blossom flavors — with that sort of bitter tartness you often find in Italian reds. Like so many of Tracy’s wines, it begs for and excels with food. Just remember that this wine is a baby. I’m going to buy some and tuck it away in my cellar for at least a year before diving in again.

Producer: Channing Daughters Winery
AVA: The Hamptons, Long Island
ABV: 12.5%
Production: 58 cases
Price: N/A*

2012, channing daughters winery, featured, refosco, Review