Rubus Brut Rose is made from 60% Tempranillo, 40% Bobal.
The Rubus Project was created by Fran Kysela as a way to source & sell incredible wines at value prices. All wines in this international project are hand-selected by Fran Kysela. Rubus wines are fruit driven, true-to-type values that over deliver - a true representation of quality for the consumer at an excellent price.
Stunning salmon-pink hues. The nose is intense and fine, dominated by notes of red berries. On the palate, the combination of fine bubbles and delicate aromas produces a delightfully light and silky rosé.
Machine harvest. The base wine is fermented at a low temperature. The second fermentation takes place at 14°C for 2 weeks, followed by dosing.
Castelmaure Corbieres Vin-Gris (Rose) is made from 80% Grenache, 10% Carignan, 10% Cinsault.
Pale pink rose color, a classic gris de gris wine with salmon hues. Delicate strawberry nose, seamless and fine pointed.
Review:
Light pink-hued, the 2018 Vin Gris Rose from the Corbières has a juicy, fruity bouquet of ripe strawberries, violets, and white peach to go with a clean, balanced, deliciously gulpable style on the palate. It’s well done and I suspect a good value."
- Jeb Dunnuck (March 2020), 90 pts
Rubus Special Edition Barossa Shiraz is made from 100 percent
The Rubus Project was created by Fran Kysela as a way to source & sell incredible wines at value prices. All wines in this international project are hand-selected by Fran Kysela. Rubus wines are fruit driven, true-to-type values that over deliver - a true representation of quality for the consumer at an excellent price.
Deep red with a slight purple hue on release. The wine has a rich mix of dark chocolate infused with coffee bean and black liquorice, then scents of tar, aniseed, raw (pure) soy and black olive on the nose. The palate is expansive, and yet balanced and finessed. An amalgam of dark berried flavors and textural sensations. The 100% new oak is completely absorbed, meshed with ripe tannins, completing a palate of impressive length and youthfulness.
Sourced from Thorn-Clarke’s St Kitts vineyard (Block 7) in the far north of the Barossa, the Rubus Reserve demonstrates both the strengths of the region and the unique characters of the vineyard.
A thin layer of topsoil over weathered marble, schist and shale mean the vines work hard to source water and nutrients. The result is naturally low yields concentrating the power and density of the fruit. Diurnal temperature variation is another important aspect of St. Kitts. Warm daytime temperatures are followed by cool nights with variations of up to 30°C (55°F) from the peak during the day into the cool night minimums.
Review:
“Earthy detail develops in this sleek and juicy shiraz, a tarry streak under fresh plum and bruised strawberry. The tannins have gravity and precision, their bracing intensity and concentration integrated into what panelist David Hawkins described as “a big, powerful wine with great liveliness.” While suited to aging, this is accessible now if you’re grilling meats to serve with it.”
- Wine & Spirits (February 2023), 94 pts
"Made by Thorn-Clarke for the US market, this has a rich and vivid nose with blueberry, violet, dark plum and subtle oak spice in play. The palate has a succulent feel with plenty of rich, open-knit blackberry and blueberry flavor. Smoothly delivered tannins carry long and even. Drink over the next decade."
- James Suckling (November 2021), 94 pts
Castelmaure Corbieres Vin-Gris (Rose) is made from 80% Grenache, 10% Carignan, 10% Cinsault.
Pale pink rose color, a classic gris de gris wine with salmon hues. Delicate strawberry nose, seamless and fine pointed.
Fullerton Three Otters Rose is made from 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Gris (7-50 years old)
This Willamee Valley blend hails mainly from three different vineyards in the north, east, and south of the Willamee Valley, with a smaering from five of our other sites. The soils of the vineyards represent the breadth and diversity of the Willamee Valley with both sedimentary- and volcanic-based soils.
Acid: TA 5.6 g/L
pH: 3.45
Aging: 100% stainless steel
Bottled Unfined
Clones: Pommard, Wadensville, Dijon 113, 114, 115, 667, and 777
The story of Fullerton’s rosé originates from the 2012 harvest. Winemaker Alex Fullerton and his father and proprietor Eric Fullerton couldn’t decide on a house style for rosé, so they held a friendly competition. They each made a rosé to see whose would win over a crowd. Though the wines were destined to be boled separately, Alex got curious and tried blending the two. Voila! The sum was better than the parts, and a tradition was born. Alex now makes one rosé that is whole cluster pressed and tank fermented, yielding a very crisp and light colored wine, while Eric crafts his rosé from a more robust extraction, which yields a darker and fuller-bodied wine. The two lots are then blended to taste, delivering a crisp, fresh rosé with wonderful structure. The juice spent three weeks on the gross lees prior to fermentation to extract aroma precursers, and then six months on lees post-fermentation.
Pairs with soft cheeses, chicken/turkey.
G.D. Vajra Barolo Coste di Rose is made from 100 percent Nebbiolo.
The Coste di Rose is a very seductive wine right out of the gate. Cherries and roses burst on the nose, with hints of amarena, red hard candy, wild berries, wet stone, mint and thyme. The palate is radiant and expressive, with all of the signature elements of Coste di Rose in nice evi-dence: the ethereal character, the saline, up-front tannic structure, and further whiffles of roses and cherries in the finish.
Review:
This wine shows a darker and more savory profile than Vajra’s Costa di Rose, its black-cherry flavors tinged with notes of licorice and tobacco. Scents of lavender and violet lend a delicate touch to the wine, which continued to gain verve and freshness with time in the glass.
-Wine & Spirits 96 Points
Rubus Vin-Gris Rose is made from 80% Grenache, 10% Carignan, 10% Cinsault
Pale pink rose color, a classic gris de gris wine with salmon hues. Delicate strawberry nose, seamless and fine pointed.
For this special project, the producer had to focus on the pruning technique, ploughing, lowering the yields, sorting the grapes, selecting the tanks, with a permanent focus on the respect of the environment.
All the grapes were harvested by hand. In the cellar, vats hygiene, temperature control, ultramodern pressing contribute to a better expression of the terroir.
Enjoy as an aperitif or with grilled fish, shellfish and appetizers.
The Rubus Concept
Rubus wines are a private label created and used by Kysela Pere et Fils, LTD in order to buy, bottle and market wine found at incredible quality/price ratio. All Rubus wines are selected by Fran Kysela MS.
It was first used for a superb batch of 1,200 cases of Amador county Zinfandel back in 1997. The wine sold in a few days and the Rubus brand was not used since then.
During a trip in California in 2009, when Fran Kysela tasted some incredible wines (available in bottle but without label), he decided to help resurrect the brand creating an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag's Leaps district in Napa Valley (California) , followed by an excellent Chardonnay from Russian River Valley (California)
We then developed the Rubus Zinfandel from Lodi (California).
In 2011, we added a Shiraz/Viognier blend from the Barossa in Australia.
For 2012, the newest addition to the Rubus line is a Chardonnay from Colchagua Valley in Chile.
Rubus is now its own brand representing quality for the consumer and an incredible price along the way.
Rubus Meaning
The name RUBUS means "raspberry" in Latin and it is the name given to the genus of flowering plants in the rose family. For instance, here are some famous fruit from the Rubus family with their latin names:
Rubus fruticosus agg. – Blackberry
Rubus idaeus – European Red Raspberry
Rubus occidentalis – Black Raspberry
Rubus pensilvanicus – Pennsylvania Blackberry
Rubus strigosus – American Red Raspberry
Biondi Santi Tenuta Greppo Riserva is made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso.
A rare wine, renowned for its extraordinary ability to age, the Biondi-Santi Riserva is produced only in the best vintages. From 1888 until today, only 41 vintages have been released.
Vineyard Profile
Vintage Report
A majestic vintage where structure, elegance and freshness combine to form something special. 2015 was a hot and dry year with constant warm temperatures from May through August which permitted the production of perfectly ripe, concentrated grapes. At the beginning of September the “tramontana” a wind coming from the north, refreshed and restored the plants before the final phase of maturation, which was characterized by significant day-night temperature, typical of our high-altitude vineyards.
Vinification
Technical Information
Tasting Notes
The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a truly majestic wine. The bouquet is packed with intense fruity notes of black berries, pomegranate and plums, intertwined with scents of Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage, rising from a carpet of forest floor. On the palate, the wine seduces with exuberant charm and caressing sweetness. The youthful tannins reveal its immense structure and contribute to creating a distinctive sensation of freshness which leads us towards a long-lingering, savory finish.
Review:
The Biondi-Santi 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is initially a reticent wine and one that does not immediately subscribe to the overstated abundance and exuberance of the vintage. Give it time. I wrote this review after several tastings over several days so I could ensure a more accurate account of the wine's elegant reveal. Contemplative and exceedingly nuanced in personality, with wild berry, underbrush, ferrous earth and candied orange peel, this has everything to look forward to in terms of its future evolution in the bottle. It displays a pretty ruby color that borders on garnet and polished copper. A silky, mid-weight palate is accented by beautifully managed and silky tannins (this aspect of the mouthfeel is extraordinary), bright freshness and long-lasting fruit momentum. The alcohol is a bit more powerful in this release (at 14.5%), but the effect is supple and smooth nonetheless. I tasted bottle number 256. Tenuta Biondi Santi does not usually release bottle production numbers, but I can confirm that 2,000 bottles of the 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva are earmarked for the United States market.
-Wine Advocate 98+ Points
Turley Zinfandel Buck Cobb is made from 100 percent Zinfandel.
Organically farmed head-trained vines planted at 1500' in the granite and quartz soils of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Primarily savory and red-fruited, with characteristics of black pepper, dried meats and fine-grained tannin texture.
This would be an excellent pairing with wood-fired pizza.