2018 Bichi 'No Name Still' Rosado

Region: Tecate < Baja California < Mexico

Grapes: Pais, Carignan, mystery grape(s)

Winemaker: Jair Téllez and Luis-Antoine Luyt

Bichi refresher, ICYMI: Jair Téllez, chef of the progressive Laja Restaurant in Ensenada and two cool places in Mexico City, is the guy behind Tecate-based Bichi, the first natural winery in Mexico. A few years ago, he left his post as chef at a Top 50 San Pellegrino Restaurant to resurrect old vines in Baja and make delicious, authentically made wine from grapes suited to the climate, with awesome label art (bonus!). Jair’s winemaking partner in crime is Luis-Antoine Luyt, pioneer of natural winemaking in Chile, so of course they’re working naturally: organic farming, native yeasts, rarely a few tiny drops of added so2 as the only additive. These are Mexican wines of the future!  And in our opinion, some of the best wines made in
Central America today.

There's a bit of mystery with some of the Bichi wines, like this one, where they have yet to identify all of the grape variety/s that comprise it.  They know they've got Carignan and País from the Rancho Camacho vineyard on the boarder with California and the San Antonio de las Miñas vineyard in the Valle de Guadalupe.  But there's a third mysterious & unidentified grape variety from the Sapiens vineyard.  But what is no mystery is how freaking delicious this deeply colored rosé is!  Gorgeously hazy coral in the glass, and it smells like crisp red apple and crushed raspberries on asphalt.  It's tart and tangy and a little exotic, like pomegranate seeds and Sour Patch Kids plumped in rosewater.  In fact, we always get a little Sour Patch Kid vibe in the Bichi wines.  What's in those Mexican soils?   Pure, raw deliciousness, that's all we know.