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Jupiter Wine Company 'Flamingo in a Flock of Pigeons' Negroamaro Rosato
Jupiter Wine Company 'Flamingo in a Flock of Pigeons' Negroamaro Rosato
Grapes — 100% Negroamaro
Region — Mendocino County, California
Tasting Notes — Vivid salmon-copper with a warm Mediterranean glow. Cherry pit, dried strawberry, plum skin, and a whisper of bitter orange on the nose — fragrant and distinctive, with none of the sugary simplicity that plagues conventional rosé. The palate is the revelation: refreshing brightness, the texture of a thoughtful light red, and a pleasant bitterness on the finish — the kind you get from cherry pits or plum skins — that makes the whole thing feel more like a sophisticated aperitivo than a poolside pour. Complex without being serious. Exactly what a great rosé should be.
The Wine — 100% Negroamaro from the small patch of it organically farmed at Fox Hill Vineyard in Mendocino County — one of the only places in the United States where this deeply southern Italian grape is grown. Negroamaro translates loosely as "dark bitter" — a name that signals exactly the aromatic complexity and pleasant tannic bitterness that make it so well-suited to rosé. In its native Puglia, at the heel of Italy's boot, Negroamaro produces some of the most characterful, sun-drenched wines in the country. Here in Mendocino's cooler climate, it retains that Mediterranean soul with added freshness and precision.
Farming — Organically farmed at Fox Hill Vineyard, Mendocino County. Jupiter sources exclusively from organic growers in alignment with their founding commitment: wines made from organically farmed fruit, with nothing added and nothing taken away.
Winemaking — All grapes lightly foot-tread and macerated on skins and stems for five days of cold maceration — long enough to extract color, texture, and that signature bitter complexity, short enough to keep the wine fresh and light. After five days, pressed into fiberglass and allowed to ferment naturally without temperature control, with wild yeasts and native bacteria from the vineyard driving both primary and secondary fermentation. Rested on all lees for ten months. Bottled without fining or filtration, with a small disclosed addition of 20 parts sulfur at bottling.
The Producer — Jupiter Wine Company was born during a pandemic phone call. Michael Richardson, a 30-year hospitality veteran, got a call from winemaker Thomas DeBiase asking if he'd like to make wine, build affordable housing, and do something that actually meant something. Michael was there the next day. Thomas DeBiase left New Jersey for Sonoma County in 2006, worked across winemaking, restaurant programs, and hospitality, and found his footing at the celebrated Idlewild Wines in Mendocino before casting off corporate wine for good. Their manifesto is unambiguous: the wine industry is built on the labor of immigrant farmworkers paid below living wages and denied basic working conditions. Jupiter's response is direct — 100% of net profits go to affordable housing solutions for the Latinx agricultural and hospitality workers who make wine country possible. This is a wine made by people who are tired of rosé cliché — and tired of an industry that talks about community while extracting from it.
Drink It With — Grilled octopus, fried anchovies, burrata with tomatoes, a cheese board, an Aperol Spritz you no longer need to order, or any occasion that deserves something pink with actual backbone.
Jupiter Wine Company 'Flamingo in a Flock of Pigeons' Negroamaro Rosato
Grapes — 100% Negroamaro
Region — Mendocino County, California
Tasting Notes — Vivid salmon-copper with a warm Mediterranean glow. Cherry pit, dried strawberry, plum skin, and a whisper of bitter orange on the nose — fragrant and distinctive, with none of the sugary simplicity that plagues conventional rosé. The palate is the revelation: refreshing brightness, the texture of a thoughtful light red, and a pleasant bitterness on the finish — the kind you get from cherry pits or plum skins — that makes the whole thing feel more like a sophisticated aperitivo than a poolside pour. Complex without being serious. Exactly what a great rosé should be.
The Wine — 100% Negroamaro from the small patch of it organically farmed at Fox Hill Vineyard in Mendocino County — one of the only places in the United States where this deeply southern Italian grape is grown. Negroamaro translates loosely as "dark bitter" — a name that signals exactly the aromatic complexity and pleasant tannic bitterness that make it so well-suited to rosé. In its native Puglia, at the heel of Italy's boot, Negroamaro produces some of the most characterful, sun-drenched wines in the country. Here in Mendocino's cooler climate, it retains that Mediterranean soul with added freshness and precision.
Farming — Organically farmed at Fox Hill Vineyard, Mendocino County. Jupiter sources exclusively from organic growers in alignment with their founding commitment: wines made from organically farmed fruit, with nothing added and nothing taken away.
Winemaking — All grapes lightly foot-tread and macerated on skins and stems for five days of cold maceration — long enough to extract color, texture, and that signature bitter complexity, short enough to keep the wine fresh and light. After five days, pressed into fiberglass and allowed to ferment naturally without temperature control, with wild yeasts and native bacteria from the vineyard driving both primary and secondary fermentation. Rested on all lees for ten months. Bottled without fining or filtration, with a small disclosed addition of 20 parts sulfur at bottling.
The Producer — Jupiter Wine Company was born during a pandemic phone call. Michael Richardson, a 30-year hospitality veteran, got a call from winemaker Thomas DeBiase asking if he'd like to make wine, build affordable housing, and do something that actually meant something. Michael was there the next day. Thomas DeBiase left New Jersey for Sonoma County in 2006, worked across winemaking, restaurant programs, and hospitality, and found his footing at the celebrated Idlewild Wines in Mendocino before casting off corporate wine for good. Their manifesto is unambiguous: the wine industry is built on the labor of immigrant farmworkers paid below living wages and denied basic working conditions. Jupiter's response is direct — 100% of net profits go to affordable housing solutions for the Latinx agricultural and hospitality workers who make wine country possible. This is a wine made by people who are tired of rosé cliché — and tired of an industry that talks about community while extracting from it.
Drink It With — Grilled octopus, fried anchovies, burrata with tomatoes, a cheese board, an Aperol Spritz you no longer need to order, or any occasion that deserves something pink with actual backbone.