V. Sattui 2016 Rosato di Sangiovese, North Coast

There’s no better way to blast through the muggy heat of summer than with a crisp, chilled rosé. This Mediterranean-style wine is made with one of our favorite grapes.

Spanning The Centuries

V. Sattui Winery has earned many accolades for its wine. The reputation for this Napa Valley winery comes despite selling its wine only at its winery or through their online store. Selling digitally would have been unthinkable when the winery was founded.

Vittorio Sattui and his wife immigrated from Italy to the San Francisco area in 1882. Three years later they began making wine full time and named their winery St. Helena Wine Cellars after the town from which they purchased their grapes.

The advent of Prohibition in 1920 resulted in the closure of the winery. After repeal in 1933, Vittorio decides to settle into retirement rather than reopen the winery.

This would all have a sad ending if not for great grandson Dario Sattui. Dario returned from Europe in the early 1970s determined to restart the family wine business. In 1975 he began making Napa Valley wine – 90 years after his great grandfather did so. V. Sattui has since established a reputation for award-winning wines.

Crisp And Contemporary

With a recent hot spell, we declared the beginning of rosé season and opened this 2016 V. Sattui Rosato Sangiovese. Grapes for this wine come primarily from Sattui’s Hibbard Ranch vineyard in Napa’s Carneros region. Color in wine comes from juice contact with the skins. In this case, the juice was given minimal contact with the skins.

Color is always a key component in wine appreciation, but with rosé it rises to another level. There are so many delightful jewel-like shades of pink! The Sattui Rosato is a beautiful light salmon color.

Rosato is the Italian term for rosé and this wine captures the sophisticated zest for living for which that country is known. This is a perfect wine for a salad, light entree of fish or chicken or a cheese or charcuterie plate. You can also savor it on its own, as we did.

The wine has a lively acidity and properly chilled, delivers refreshment that can cut through any summer doldrums. We found the flavors to be more robust than many rosé wines. Strawberry and watermelon flavors mingle nicely in the glass.

Sattui Rosato di Sangiovese is priced at $26. It’s a good choice for a hot weather refresher – or to generate a few sunbeams on an otherwise dreary day.

Full disclosure: We received this wine as a marketing sample.