25 Dec Please The Palate Wine of the Week: Jason Stephens 2018 Pixelated Rosé

Silicon Valley may be the heart of the tech industry but it is also home to vineyards. The Santa Clara Valley AVA, named in 1989, has been producing wine for more than 160 years. Covering the towns of Morgan hill, Saratoga, San Martin and Gilroy, today there are 35 wineries in the area. One of the wineries in the Santa Clara Valley AVA is the Jason-Stephens Winery which, in addition to producing Bordeaux varietals, also produces tech inspired labels. It is the Jason-Stephens Winery 2018 Pixelated Rosé that is the Please The Palate Wine of the Week.

Jason Goelz, owner and winemaker of Jason-Stephens Winery, had worked in the dot.com and tech world before starting his winery in 2008. While he focuses on a fun approach to traditional Bordeaux varietals under the Jason-Stephens label, he pays homage to the tech world around him with the Silicon Valley Wine Company “Tech Series” labels.

The Jason-Stephens 2018 Pixelated Rosé is a rosé of sangiovese. It is a bright candy pink color and has bright aromas of strawberry, guava, lime, white peach and honeysuckle. On the palate, the aromas carry through with bright acidity.

Only 400 cases of this wine were produced and it was bottled in July and has now been released. The wine retails for $18. While it may be past what we think of as typical rosé season, we can actually drink rosé year-round.