2023 Marietta Cellars Old Vine Rose California 750 ml

Marietta Cellars is absolutely on fire right now.

The winery has always been a source of fantastic value, but the winemaking in recent years has earned them a slew of monster scores from both the Wine Advocate and Vinous’ Antonio Galloni, who declared he was “completely blown away by the Marietta wines.”

Founded in 1978 by Chris Bilbro, now in the hands of his sons, Jake and Scot, Marietta has focused on quality at reasonable pricing from the very beginning. They started with their spectacular Old Vine Red, a “mixed blacks” blend that quickly became a company calling card.

Today the winery owns and farms 400 acres of their own vines organically, having acquired Limerick Lane and McDowell Valley Vineyards in 2011 and 2012, respectively. They have a year-round team of dedicated vineyard and winery workers, most of whom have worked for them for decades.

That obsession with quality extends to their rosé—which is unusual in a landscape where pink wine is often an afterthought. This blend of Syrah and Grenache is entirely from estate-grown, organically farmed grapes. Some of the oldest Syrah and Grenache vines in North America go into this exceptional bottle: Planted in McDowell Valley in Mendocino, the dry-farmed behemoths stand nearly six feet high and are over a century old.

Once the bunches are brought into the winery, the winemaking focus is on keeping the expression of fruit and place pure. The grapes go into the press as whole clusters, which keeps flavors detailed and vivid, before fermentation in stainless steel. Finally, wine is racked into neutral barrels that add a touch of texture and allow it to develop more complexity before bottling in the spring.