Rasa Vineyards Occam's Razor Red Blend 2023
The concept of Rasa Vineyards started with a bottle of 1988 Mouton Rothschild that brothers Pinto and Billo Naravane bought at a shop in Napa Valley. That bottle of wine changed their lives. They call it their epiphany wine. That Mouton inspired them to learn all they could about wine and seriously discuss starting a winery. In 2007, with Pinto’s business plan and Billo working on a degree from the UC Davis Master’s program in Viticulture and Winemaking, the two budding winemakers quit their tech jobs and selected Walla Walla, Washington, as the home of Rasa Vineyards.
They purchased 28 acres in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, just ten miles south of Walla Walla, in an area that would become the Rocks District AVA. Their first two wines won accolades and high ratings in wine publications. In 2017, Billo joined an elite worldwide group of 498 people who have earned the title of ‘Master of Wine’ (or simply: MW).
Rasa sources additional grapes from Eastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon. Their estate bottled wines comes from the original vineyard in Oregon. They also work with other high-quality growers in the region. The Naravanes believe in a strict minimal-interventionist approach to viticulture and winemaking, letting the terroir – the influence of soil, climate, vine, and topography – speak through the wine.
To engage wine drinkers on a personal level, Pinto and Billo have stories behind each of their labels, often named according to themes: Latinate and scientific, musical or poetic, and whimsical.
This wine has a alluring bouquet of blackberry, cassis, violets, asian spices, vanilla, and espresso. The full-bodied palate has firm tannins and high acidity and wonderful complexity. The wine finishes with lovely notes of cassis, black cherry, dark chocolate, and spice. Drinks well now but will improve over the next 5-8 years.
The wine had a pre-fermentation maceration average of 98 hours and a post-fermentation maceration average of 74 hours. Native fermentation was used on 80% of the lots. 10% whole clusters were used to give added structure. The wine was punched down by hand 2 times each day during macerations and fermentation. All individual wine components, including free run and press fractions, were kept separate until final blending. The wine had an elevage of 18 months in oak and was racked three times but not fined. The wine was very lightly filtered to capture any remaining lees. The alcohol is 14.8%, pH is 3.86, and the titratable acidity is 5.7 g/L.
The oak profile is 15% new French oak (predominantly from Troncais and Alliers) and 85% neutral French oak.
