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Your Endless Crush Wine Pick: This Reasonable Rosé is All About Romance

BY James Brock // 07.04.18

Looking for a Rosé of distinction? Try this one.

Opening a bottle of rosé is never a bad idea. It’s early in the afternoon, you and your guests are talking about dinner plans, and you want to open something crisp and refreshing, a wine that will spark the appetite and keep the mood light.

A few friends and I found ourselves part of that scenario a few days ago, and the 2017 Endless Crush Rosé of Pinot Noir from Inman Family Wines is what we decided to drink.

First, the minerality. Palpable minerality in a way that diverges from a lot of other rosés I’ve tasted lately. Refreshing, light on the palate yet wholly fulfilling, and complex. The wine is light salmon in color, a tone that appeals to the eye.

Like the delectable aroma of wild strawberries? This bottle should be on your buy list. You’ll also get a bit of grapefruit and a hint of effervescence — a hint that pleases the palate and gracefully makes way for the confident mouthfeel here.

Kathleen Inman has fond memories of a meal in France, which led to the creation of Endless Crush Rosé. (Image courtesy Inman Family Wines)

Here’s what winemaker Kathleen Inman said about the Endless Crush: “The first time I had an elegant dry rosé wine was on a simple but romantic picnic with my husband Simon in Provence 25 years ago. Local cheese, bread, fruit, the fabulous, dramatic scenery and that Provençal wine with its delicate salmon pink color, crisp acidity and floral aromas forever linked in my mind rosé wines and al fresco dining with romance.

In 2004, Simon and I harvested Olivet Grange Pinot Noir on September 1st, which was our 20th wedding anniversary. To celebrate and mark the occasion I made a special rosé, which I called “Endless Crush”.

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This wine is not produced via the saignée method, but rather, whole clusters are pressed within a few hours of destemming, resulting in a wine with fine structure and personality. Grapes for the Endless Crush come entirely from Inman’s Olivet Grange estate, and 1,215 cases were produced.

The Russian River Valley AVA is the origin of this wine, the fruit for which was harvested by hand at night, then destemmed and cold-soaked for several hours. Said the winemaker: “The fruit was then moved to a Diemme press and pressed on a delicate white wine cycle. The juice was moved to tank for cold settling, racked and then inoculated for primary fermentation using a Provençal yeast strain.

“It aged in stainless steel on the lees until it was prepared for bottling. After cross-flow filtration, the wine was bottled under Stelvin closure.”

The Endless Crush Rosé retails for around $38, and you can find it at your favorite wine merchant or directly from the producer here.

Here’s a video about the Olivet Grange: