Bright ruby in color. Classic red fruit flavors evolve into layers of cherry cola, thyme and rosemary, wrapped in a supple texture. This vintage is subdued on release, but develops into a gorgeous, bold fruit flavor over time. Character emerges. I can't wait to see how it changes after aging for 7-8 years.
Gary and Rosella Franscioni, the third generation of a century-old farm family who grew potatoes and beans, realized the potential of the Santa Lucia Highlands as a grape growing region and began cultivating Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in 1996. Their old friend and neighbor, Gary Pisoni, gave them some of his Pisoni clones, and their high-quality grapes were purchased by luxury wineries such as Testarossa and Costa Brown. The first VTG in 2001 was highly acclaimed, and when Ed Kurtzman took over the winemaking in 2007, the wine's popularity increased and it became difficult to obtain even in the United States.
Although Roa Wines is a winery that has received high praise from wine rating agencies, it is family-run and not particularly large. The two sons, Adam and Nick, grew up watching their parents sincerely working with the land, and each of them supports the winery as the vineyard manager and the winemaker, respectively. Currently, Roa produces wine from grapes from five vineyards, including one jointly owned with Gary Pisoni, in addition to their own vineyards, and Scott Shapely is in charge of winemaking. Shapely has experience working as a winemaker at Siduri and joined the family in 2012, when Roa was selected as one of Wine Spectator's "TOP 100". The Francioni family continues to run the winery as a family, and the entire family discusses everything from vineyard management to blending, but the final decision seems to be made by Rosella.