Summer has definitely arrived here in Sonoma, as the first heat wave of the season sets in and we welcome June and the start of the busy season. It’s not just the crowds that flock to the tasting rooms that keep us busy during this time of year, it’s also our cellar team rapidly preparing for our Chardonnay bottling, the vineyard crews tending to our vigorously growing vines, and of course our staff preparing for the shipment of thousands of packages heading across America to deliver three great Roche Wines. Amongst all of this busy work, we still took the time to really focus on delivering you some great wines to hopefully compliment something we are sure all of you will find yourself participating in this summer: a summertime barbeque.

What is more American than a summertime outdoor BBQ? Perhaps pairing it with our American Oak Chardonnay (obviously) and our newly released and new to us 2023 Pinot Noir Nouveau! This idea for this wine was first inspired and recommended to us by our Assistant Winemaker Andrew Jess. Andrew easily sold this idea to my family and Winemaker Michael Carr last harvest, and we quickly gave Andrew the go ahead to craft our first ever Pinot Noir Nouveau. This Pinot Noir is certainly unique, and I encourage you to learn more about this wine on Michael’s page where instead of an article written by Michael, we have asked Andrew to elaborate more on this new wine here at Roche. Rounding out the wines included in this package is one of our most versatile reds, our 2021 Tipperary Reserve Pinot Noir, a wine that can be easily enjoyed with pretty much any BBQ fare including grilled vegetables, chicken, seafood, pork and even steak. Its light and delicate flavors pair especially well with outdoor meals where the summertime heat might prevent you from grabbing that big, robust red from your wine cooler.

Hopefully, by now, I’ve inspired a BBQ sometime in the very near future for you, and I hope one or all these wines will be there to enjoy, and help make for some great summertime memories.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our tasting rooms soon, and until then, Happy Summer!