Delve Wine Co. Bartolomei Vineyard Rosé of Carignan Mendocino County 2019

Delve Wine Company is just the kind of project we love introducing to our ACME clients- two friends coming together with a combined dedication to making delicious wines to share with family and friends. Kevin Ryan and Kyle Leone are a pair of young, gallivanting gents who founded Delve in 2018.  While Sonoma County-based, they meticulously source fruit from such far-flung vineyard sites as the El Dorado Hills, Monterey, and Mendocino.

Two local kids from Sebastopol (Kyle) and Santa Rosa (Kevin), the duo met as interns during the 2014 harvest and became full-time cellar hands making wines for highly coveted, small labels at a custom crush winery. Working long days side-by-side, they became fast friends having everything in common from a love of the outdoors to sharing the same vision on what wines inspired them. After enthusiastic feedback and encouragement from their community, they decided to start their own passion project: Delve. The name refers to their delight in taking a deeper dive into the layers of soil and microclimates which influence the wine and play a huge role in the nuance of aromatics, texture, and flavor.

Kyle and Kevin sourced the fruit for this utterly thirst-quenchable rosé from the historic Bartolomei Vineyard. Located just east of Ukiah in Mendocino County, these 100 acres are farmed by family patriarch Ray Bartolomei. His grandfather emigrated from Lucca, Italy in the early 1900s and the family are stewards of massive, 75-year-old, dry-farmed, and beautifully gnarled Carignan vines. This particular block is tucked behind a Buddhist temple, giving the grapes an extra blessing.

This is an “Old World” style rosé, unfiltered and unfined, made using natural fermentation with minimal winemaker intervention. An ever-so-slight amount of skin contact adds a gorgeous blush of salmon color. The wine practically erupts with the aromas of summertime: think watermelon rind and fresh strawberries. Full malolactic fermentation in 100% neutral French oak barrels lends the wine a generous, round palate balanced with a bracing zip of acidity. Living in the beauty of Wine Country, Kevin and Kyle are constantly reminded of the bounty Mother Nature has given them- as such 1% of the proceeds from this wine goes back to the planet. Just 35 cases produced!