Rasa QED The Strong Law 2022
Rasa Vineyards is the realization of our passion, vision and commitment to create a world-class winery focused on producing ultra-premium, terroir specific wines from Eastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon.
We fell in love with wine in 1991. Since then, we’ve tasted hundreds of wines every year and developed a deep appreciation for everything about wine. For years we dreamed of starting our own winery.
In 2006, Billo applied to the UC Davis Masters program for Viticulture and Winemaking. He was one of ten to get accepted that year. He called me and asked what he should do. It was the same year I was turning 40. If we didn’t do this now, we never would and we would regret it for the rest of our lives. So, he quit Hewlett Packard and went to school full-time. I spent the next year formulating a business plan, doing financial projections, and creating operational links to ensure we had a path to success.
In 2007, while Billo was still in school, we felt we were ready. That year, we created two wines: 2007 QED (a blend of Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre) and 2007 Principia Reserve Syrah. The QED received 94 points from Wine Spectator and the Principia received a perfect rating from Rand Sealey of Review of Washington Wines – not a bad way to start.
Ten years later, we continue to be proud of what we do. We remain committed to making the best wines in the world. In 2006, we made the decision to start our winery, we subsequently left our high-tech jobs behind, and we’ve never looked back.
Deep purple color with intense aromatics of crème de cassis, black plum, blackberry, leather, dark chocolate, and cedar. Gentle herbal tones add secondary interest to the bouquet. On the palate the tannins are rich and supple and are framed with lively acidity. The palate has redolent notes of blackberry, black cherry, crème de cassis, espresso, cigar tobacco, and dark chocolate. The finish is elegantly long with notes of crème de cassis, black cherry, and dark chocolate. This is a very well balanced wine that shows both grace and power. Delicious and hard to resist now, but it should be at its best in 7-9 years and will hold for 12+ years.
The Strong Law components had a pre-fermentation maceration of 113 hours and a post-fermentation maceration of 85 hours. 100% native yeast fermentation. The wine was punched down by hand 3 times each day during macerations and fermentation. All individual wine components, including free run and press fractions, were kept separate until final blending.
Cooperage: Elevage was 18 months in 40% new French oak and 60% neutral French oak. The wine achieved its sparkly brilliance from 3 judicious rackings, no fining agents were employed. The wine was very gently filtered using crossflow filtration.
