the drunken cyclist

This is the last article about this year’s Annual Largest Blind Tasting of American True Rosés in the World and as I have done the past nine years, I thought I would end with some general impressions and this year’s top rosés.

For those that have never done it, tasting 51 rosés blind might sound “fun” but it is actually pretty difficult. First, there are only a dozen or so descriptors for the color pink. Sure, you could get fancy and introduce foreign words or tap into Crayola, Behr Paint, or nail polish color names, but, well, I’ll just say that is not my style.

Here are a few ways to describe “pink” but they’re in French….

As it did the last couple of years, it took a toll on my teeth. Swishing around all that acid in your mouth really challenges the gums and chicklets. Six years ago, my teeth hurt for a solid four days after tasting through 68 wines twice (I stupidly pre-tasted all the wines right before the tasting). Ouch.

This year, I decided not to try all the wines twice. Still, after tasting 51 high-acid (hopefully) wines, the teeth and gums go into a bit of a revolt.

Some general observations:

I ran a couple of correlations and I found that once again this year, there was no apparent correlation between quality and price (r = -0.23) nor between quality and when the wine was tasted (r = 0.04). (Statisically speaking, number geeks don’t start getting excited about correlations until r> +/- 0.3 and we must remember that correlation does not prove causation.)
This year saw a slight increase in the quality of the wines (my average score rose about a half a point). While certainly, some wines were “better” than others, all the wines but four fell at least into the “Very Good” category, with nearly 80% achieving “Excellent” (41% at 90-92 points) or “Outstanding” (39% at 93 points and above).
I contend that “True Rosé” can age as well as any well-made white wine, but I did think that it would be fairly easy to identify the older wines (five wines were from 2022, three from 2023, 24 from 2024, and 19 from 2025), but that was certainly not the case. Although, there was a higher concentration of “Outstanding” wines from the 2025 vintage wines (2 from 2022, 7 from 2024, 11 from 2025).
Although still dominated by California (35 wines), Oregon was nicely represented with 13 wines, there were two from Washington, and one from Texas.
At big tastings such as this, even when spitting, the alcohol eventually starts to have a bit of an effect–there was much more conversation and general hilarity by the end of the tasting.

Thanks to H-E-B for, er, “supplying” the bags for the tasting.

Many thanks to those who attended the tasting and offered their comments and expertise, particularly Sandra Crittendon (Galveston Weekly) Kat René (The Corkscrew Consièrge), and a couple of friends/neighbors.

Four wines appeared on the lists of all the writers at the tasting:

2025 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir Rosé de Ville, Sonoma County, CA ($29)
2025 Stoller Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, OR ($22)
2025 Acquiesce Grenache Rosé, Lodi, CA ($35)
2025 Cattleya Alma de Cattleya Rose of Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA ($25)

Another five wines appeared on the majority of the writers’ lists:

2024 Decoy Rosé, California ($20)
2025 Browne Family Vineyards Gigi’s Garden Rosé, Columbia Valley, WA ($20)
2025 Pisoni Family Vineyards Lucy Rosé of Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA ($24)
2025 Rodney Strong Pinot Noir Rosé, Russian River Valley, CA ($25)
2025 Smith-Madrone Rosé. Napa Valley, CA ($30)

And another six appeared on multiple lists:

2024 The Calling Pinot Noir Rosé Fox Den Vineyard, Russian River Valley, CA ($45)
2025 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir The Sly One Rosé, Anderson Valley, CA ($35)
2025 Acquiesce Cinsaut Rosé, Lodi, CA ($35)
2024 Van Duzer Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, OR ($25)
2025 Lange Rosé of Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR ($25)
2024 Brooks Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, OR ($30)

Here are my top twelve wines from the tasting:

2025 Tongue Dancer Pinot Noir Rosé de Ville, Sonoma County, CA ($29)
2025 Stoller Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, OR ($22)
2025 Acquiesce Grenache Rosé, Lodi, CA ($35)
2025 Acquiesce Cinsaut Rosé, Lodi, CA ($35)
2025 Chehalem Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, OR ($20)
2025 Rodney Strong Pinot Noir Rosé, Sonoma County, CA ($25)
2025 Browne Family Vineyards Gigi’s Garden Rosé, Columbia Valley, WA ($20)
2025 Pisoni Family Vineyards Lucy Rosé of Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA ($24)
2024 Decoy Rosé, California ($20)
2025 Cattleya Alma de Cattleya Rose of Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA ($25)
2025 Smith-Madrone Rosé. Napa Valley, CA ($30)
2024 Daou Vineyards Rosé, Paso Robles, CA ($22)

As you can see, there are a ton of fantastic rosés out there, many that can be had for a bargain (the average suggested retail this year was $28.21, which was sixty cents lower than last year).

That’s it for this year’s Largest Blind Tasting of American True Rosé! My next “big” tasting is this fall, with American Pinot Noir.

Flights 1-3 Flights 4-6 Flights 7-9 Flights 10-11 Flights 12-13

An alphabetical listing of all the wines tasted can be found HERE.