Around the world, in every region where glorious grapes flourish, winemakers begin with passion, creating elegant, elevated, impressive wines that transform them from being a craftsman to becoming legendary icons. Having their name on the bottle as the winemaker ensures the product inside is of high quality because they wouldn’t put their name on just any bottle, or work with just any winery. Within Napa Valley names like André Tchelistcheff, Warren Winiarski, Heidi Barrett, Helen Turley, Celia Welch, and consistent favorite, Philippe Melka. Melka is the winemaker behind such wines like Lail Vineyards, DANA Estates, Vineyard 29, Alejandro Bulgheroni, Brand, Adamvs, Moone Tsai, and now Sonoma’s Sosie Winery, joining his Atelier Melka portfolio. Their first wine together has just been released and it is beautiful.

With a French style, with Old World restraint instead of overwhelming power, all the wines produced by Sosie highlight the essence of place, telling a story, celebrating the terroir. Tiny production, and the first Rose wine produced by the winery since 2017, Sosie 2021 Rose of Syrah ($32) is fresh, juicy, crisp, and bone dry. Aromas of orange blossom and wildflowers, and red berry rise from the glass with a simple swirl, followed by strawberry, raspberry, Bing cherry, blood orange, ripe melon, and red apple. This is a wine to sip all spring, pairing with light pasta dishes, poached or grilled salmon, baby vegetable salads, or triple cream cheese and fruit. #cheers