Columbia Gorge, OR

50% 14-day Skin-Contact Pinot Gris, 50% Skin-Contact Big Salt White

It has a cranberry meets Sunny D color, perhaps due to the 14 day Pinot Gris skin-contact. The Big Salt components that went into barrel saw anywhere from 8 hours of skin contact up to 3 days.  Its aromas remind me of an orange creamsicle stirred into a cup of hibiscus tea steeped with autumnal spices.  There’s a heavy dose of galangal and roasted carrot notes on the palate, which has the grip and power of a gravely red wine.

What is an orange rosé you ask?  We don’t know either.  Big Salt “Orange Rose” is nearly an equal blend of ramato style Pinot gris, and Big Salt fermented & aged in neutral barrel.  The combination of these production methods left us with a wine that doesn’t look or smell like a rose – it isn’t as funky or extracted as an orange wine – it lives somewhere in between…or beyond?