Napa Valley winemaker Rombauer Vineyards has been a part of the BottleRock music and food festival since 2013 inception. This weekend, they will bring to the May 26-28 event 115 cases and a little extra zest in the form of a very timely “Wine of the Week” citation from local newspaper the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
The May 22 write-up lauds the tart flavors and passion fruit hints of Rombauer’s 2016 Sauvignon Blacn. Wine writer Peg Melnik deems the vintage a “BottleRock knockout” and also highlights a winemaker with a name that sounds like it could fit right into the musical portion of the festivities–Richie Allen:
Allen said his New Zealand [background and] know-how gives him an edge.
“Early in my career, I made a good amount of sauvignon blanc in Marlborough,” he said. “I learned certain winemaking techniques in New Zealand that aren’t commonly used with sauvignon blanc in the U.S. That gives me some advantage.” …
“I took a year off university to travel and rock climb around the world,” he said. “I ended up in California, and one fateful day, I went wine tasting in Amador County with friends. I’d had wine before, but there was something about tasting through a flight of wines and comparing them that set off an insatiable curiosity. I was hooked.”
After earning his winemaking degree in Australia, Allen spent the next seven years on the road, traveling from harvest to harvest. Tom Petty and pretty much every other artist and group playing BottleRock this weekend knows what that’s like. The Rombauer 2016 Sauvignon Blanc was released to market in March and retails for $24.
