On the lightest, crispest side of Rosé. Smell and taste wild strawberries, pink rose petals, red plums, peach, fennel and green tea. Tangy, fat-cutting acidity and intense. A much better food companion than a porch-sipper. I compare this more to a cool northern French (Loire, Burgundy) Rosé than a southern French style. One of Hudson Ranch’s many passions is raising heritage pigs for consumption. A Hudson Ranch slow-roasted pork butt from would make a fine companion.

From a block of mature Grenache vines on Hudson Ranch. “Purposeful Rosé,” the Grenache grapes are squeezed (“whole cluster pressed”) straight from the vineyard, giving the wine a very light salmon color…quite white wine-ish.

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Hudson Ranch and Vineyards is an extraordinary, expansive property in Napa’s Carneros district near the Sonoma County line. Founder and owner Lee Hudson bought his property in 1981 after extensive classroom and practical studies in horticulture, viticulture and enology. Today, Hudson Ranch is a great winery, but much more: gardens, livestock (“Holistic Farming” in their words), hospitality (tasting room to open in late 2018). I highly recommend trying getting to know Hudson Ranch: the wines, the produce, olive oil, pork…