4070 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles, CA 93446, us
Winery/Vineyard Direct: (805) 835-9446
Rococo Wines
Producing Old Vine Chenin Blanc in California
Rococo (pronounced roh-coh-coh) is an art movement that existed in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s at the tail end of the Baroque period. It is known for being playful, ornate, and asymmetrical. Rococo art was a social pushback against the rigidity and structure of the Baroque period it followed. Rococo wines are playful, expressive, and juxtaposed to more popular fad varieties that currently saturate the wine market.
Rococo Wines began in the summer of 2016 when Natalie visited the Los Alamos Vineyard for the first time and by chance was introduced to a small patch of old vine Chenin Blanc. The vineyard, nestled between the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez valleys, and luckily surviving redevelopment to more lucrative and productive varieties, still has 3 remaining acres of own-rooted Chenin Blanc planted circa 1974. The wine from this vineyard eventually became the Own Rooted Chenin Blanc.
Years later, Natalie has expanded Rococo's portfolio to include multiple single vineyard California Chenin Blancs. These vineyards emphasize own-rooted, dry farmed, old vines and vineyards run by multigenerational farmers.
Each wine is given a name which reflects either the vineyard from which it came, or a stylistic technique applied in the cellar. Since the wines are fermented with native yeast, our philosophy is to let the yeast make the decision as to when the fermentation is complete. The Own Rooted Chenin consistently finishes with a few grams of residual sugar. The Delta typically ferments to dryness. We think this has to do with the timing of the picks as much as the strain of yeast because the Own Rooted is typically the last white to be picked and thus will be fermenting in colder conditions.
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