Twin Fin Wines

There’s a lot that the label on this juicy rosé doesn’t tell you. For one thing, although the wine carries a “California” appellation, the grapes are from Monterey County. For another, the grape used is Sangiovese. Twin Fin is a brand from one of the divisions of Constellation Wines, and maybe the marketing team didn’t want too much information to detract from the message of surf, sand and the “California lifestyle.”

Marketing aside, this is a tasty little number: aromatic and bright, with flavors of cranberry, rhubarb and lemon and just enough tannin to give it some structure. There’s a touch of residual sugar to soften the finish, but the wine doesn’t taste sweet. The grapes came from two vineyards in Monterey County. Half of them were crushed, destemmed and pressed immediately, while the other half were left on the skins for 24 hours to extract color and that bit of tannin. The wine was fermented in stainless, which helped preserve freshness.

All the Twin Fin wines are bottled under screw cap – no corkscrew to complicate that California lifestyle. Many rosés these days are made in tiny quantities, but there are 18,000 cases of the Sunset Rosé out there. And the price – $10 – is very attractive.

Reviewed June 18, 2007 by Laurie Daniel.