Zeni (Roberto). Rossara 'Legiare'

Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT
Grape: Rossara

Cherry and berry fruit, supple floral fruit, a mountain stream like freshness to this full flavoured, light red. Also a lovely lovely summer red, served chilled with a salad.  12%

link to Roberto Zeni producer page

Today, Zeni are the only producer bottling a pure Rossara, it is the last of its kind, or perhaps the first. Stylistically the vine is similar to Schiava (Vernatch), light bodied, not much interruption from the tannins, a simple and elegant pleasure.
The wine was made originally from one rented vineyard and one that the family own, a new vineyard came on stream in 2013 and the difference is marked. The vineyard that the family had rented was 18 years old and planted using the old spergola system, in itself this was not a problem though the quality of the plants was not so exhaustive, a more typical old-fashioned vineyard that was less focused on quality. The fruit was good but lacked the intensity of the new plantings.
The soils are a mix of alluvial and gravel, a former riverbed of the Noce. Locally the stones are known as ‘sassi robi’. Rossara is long established, but very rare, the wines can be very pale and light to medium bodied. Fragrance and purity of fruit is important so Zeni’s are made a little differently to protect these virtues. They are fermented on the skins for a week before being drawn off into steel tanks where they complete Vinification, more akin to a white than red.