2023 Kinero Rosé of Grenache

Kinero Cellars was founded, more or less by happenstance, in 2008. That’s when Anthony Yount, then just a year out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, made his first barrels of Grenache Blanc and Roussanne. Grapes from some of the area’s most prestigious vineyards became available, and Yount, then working for Villa Creek Winery, decided to try his hand at winemaking. Since then Yount has won compliments for his white wines, in particular, and has purchased 25 acres in the York Mountain appellation. The San Francisco Chronicle called his 2012 Grenache Blanc “as serious an expression of Grenache Blanc as you’ll find anywhere.” Wine Advocate has rated Kinero wines in the low 90s. Yount is considered an up-and-coming young winemaker with a talent for Rhone grapes.

Central Coast AVA is a huge wine producing area that extends from Santa Barbara County in the south to San Francisco in the north. With more than 100,000 vineyard acres, it includes parts of six counties near the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 20 smaller AVAs lie within the Central Coast AVA. Central Coast earned appellation status in 1985. Included in the appellation are parts of the counties of Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Nearly every grape varietal grown in California is grown somewhere in the Central Coast AVA, though Chardonnay accounts for nearly 50% of the entire wine grape crop.