Troon Vineyard Ascendant Rosé Applegate Valley 2023

The Data

Country USA

Appellation Applegate Valley

Varietal Rose Blend

Retail Price $40

ABV 12.5%

Score 5 Stars/97 points

In the Glass

Appearance

Mildly hazy, medium peach color.

Aromatics

The aromatics are intense, offering scents of star fruit, plum, and orange peel with supporting notes of slate, quince paste, and hints of red berries.

Flavor

The palate echoes the nose delivering an orchard fruit and citrus-driven core with flavors of apricot stone, kumquat, white peach, and citrus zest. The finish is long and lingering with very soft and silky tannins.

Intensity & Texture

Medium-bodied and perfectly balanced with an opulent texture.

Cool Factor

The Troon Ascendant Rosé is absolutely cool and wonderfully unique. This is not a typical Rosé rather a complex and contemplative wine.

Value Grade

This is not a bargain Rosé (although that category is greatly diminished) but it is a five-star wine made in small quantities by one of our most trusted producers.

Analysis

You will have to look very closely to see that this is indeed a Rosé as the color is very faint being similar to a white wine with extended skin contact. On the nose and palate this wine delivers a wonderful hybrid of red and white wine characteristics with great depth and complexity. The Troon Ascendant Rosé is part of a series of Biodynamic wines blended from classic varieties from the Rhône, Provence, and Languedoc-Roussillon that includes red, white, and amber wines as well. The Ascendant Rosé had very little skin contact being pressed and settled overnight in stainless steel before being transferred to neutral French oak barrels for fermentation. The wines spent eight months in barrel on the lees before the final blending and bottling. The extended lees contact is evident in this wine’s opulent texture. It’s a wine built for limited aging showing best in a year or two but we think it’s fantastic today.

How to Enjoy

Serve chilled but not too cold. Enjoy a bottle now and lay one or two down in the cellar for next summer. Serve with roasted fowl, fatty fish, and roasted peppers.