Q. SoloRosa is the only winery in the New World devoted to producing nothing but dry rosé.  The first question that comes to mind is, what on earth were you thinking?

A. What I was thinking was that I'd like to have some good dry rosé to drink. I'd lived in France for many years, specifically in Nice, in the south, where the best food is.  While I was there I got used to having the best wine with the best food, and that wine  was rosé. We made a little rosé at Gristina, but then, when I started living here in Napa, I found myself lamenting the fact that there was almost no good, dry rosé for sale in California.  So I decided to make some.  

Q. You make it sound so simple.

A. Well, everyone else around here seemed to be making wine, so I thought I'd make some too. Remember, I'd been a winemakere in New York.  Back in 2000 I was still working for Dean & Deluca here in Napa, which means I still had my day job.  So I just went ahead and made the wine, and it was so good my friends and I drank all 23 cases of it that summer.  So I went and talked to my winemaking buddy Daniel Moore, and that's how it all started.  Once we'd committed ourselves to a thousand cases, we decided to keep going.

Q. What were you doing living in France all those years?

A. First I was studying music, then I was the band leader at the Casino in Monte Carlo.  I'd drive across the border every day, and back into France every night.  Those were the days when my hair was long and wild, and the cops kept stopping me -- actually the same cop kept stopping me on my way across the border.  I'd say, 'Hey, don't you remember that you stopped me last night?' and he'd take a closer look and say, 'Ah, oui monsieur,' and wave me on.

Q. You started out with only one wine.  Now you're turning out four different rosés.  Is there a story here or are you just crazy?

A. Hmmm, possibly.  Our benchmark wine is SoloRosa, which we still make from the same two varietals, Sangiovese and Merlot, still from the same two vineyards: Half the blend is Sangiovese from Atlas Peak Vineyards in Napa; the other fifty percent is Merlot from the Levantini Vineyards in Lodi. Last year we were lucky to be able to purchase some outstanding Syrah from a single vineyard in the Russian River region, which we hoped would make a terrific reserve rosé -- and we were right.  We also identified ten distinctive barrels of Sangiovese from Atlas Peak that we couldn't bring ourselves to just blend away, so we decided to keep it separate and make another tiny batch of reserve rosé that we've labeled SoloRosa 'Blue Label.' It's our answer to domaines Ott and Tempier.

Q. Will you make all of these every year?

A. I don't know.  Probably not, but we'll have to see.

Q. That's three wines.  What about the fourth?

A. Late in the season we came across a small plot of super ripe Napa Valley Sangiovese.  It was wonderful fruit that was more suitable to a late-harvest style.  We made a whopping three barrels of it, but it's great -- spicy, bright, and a little sweet.  It makes a perfect aperitif straight up or on the rocks with a twist.  I'm the only winemaker in America who suggests putting ice in the wine, but this works!  I call it the Campari of rosés.

Q. Who else makes a late harvest rosé?

A. Nobody in the world so far as I know.  Certainly no one in Napa.  We are the wunderkind of pink.

Q. Critical response to SoloRosa has been great.  Among its many kudos is that it was the only rosé featured in The Wine Spectator's 'Independence Day Indulgence' issue last year. Robert Parker called it a 'Tavel-like effort.'  Was Tavel one of your models?

A. Tavel, in Provence, is the only appellation where the only wine you can make is rosé, so they tend to squeeze a little more color and flavor from the grapes than in other regions, Bandol for example.  Here, big California fruit is a little more substantial.  Also, the French rarely make rosé in barrels; they use concrete or stainless steel tanks.

Q. Why did you want to ferment your rosé in barrels then?

A. Because as soon as you start fermenting in smaller units like barrels there is more contact with the lees, which produces a creamier texture.  It can also tone down the fruit a little, but in California that isn't always such a bad thing. What I'm looking for is complexity, not necessarily a fruit bomb.

Q. One of the ways you promote the gospel of rosé is in classes you teach at the CIA.  How do you go about it?

A. In each class we have six different dishes and six glasses of wine: three reds, two whites, and one rosé.  We pair each wine with each dish.  At the end of the class everyone is amazed that only one wine goes with every dish.  Even if it's not the 'best' wine, or the most 'complex' wine in the group, the rosé does the best job at enhancing the food.  The way I figure it is that fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong.  That's half the population of France, and that half lives in Provence -- where everyone drinks rosé!

Q. What do you think it is about rosé that makes it such a good wine with food?

A. It definitely has some of the characteristics we like in red wine -- richness, and the appetizing characteristics of fresh red fruits.  It also has the bright acidity of white wine, and it's drunk somewhat chilled.  Because of these qualities rosé lends itself to richer dishes and to red meats, but also to lighter fare.

Q. Name a couple of other California wineries that you think produce good rosé now.

A. Gosh, there are more and more of them all the time.  Let's see, I think Bonny Doon does a nice job on an inexpensive rosé.  Tablas Creek makes one that's expensive but delicious.  Herzog makes a kosher vin gris that's also expensive, but it's great.

Q. What's the most common misconception about rosé?

A. Americans still think it's going to be sweet.  That's the legacy of Lancers and Mateus. And also white zinfandel, though you can find good, dry white zin, too.

Q. How did you come up with the name Solo Rosa?

A. It actually came to me in a dream.  You know it means -- only pink -- in Italian.  The strange thing is, I don't even speak Italian, but I dreamed it, and when I woke up the next morning I found I'd written it down on a piece of paper.  I had to call an Italian friend who told me what it means.

Q. When you were five years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. A cowboy.

Q. Do you ever play the sax anymore?

A. Not much.  I haven't really found anyone to play with out here.  Actually, the truth is that with all these different things going on I don't have time anymore to practice.  You can't just pick up the horn and expect to sound good.

Q. As if your plate weren't full enough, you went ahead and decided to write a book about rosé.

A. Actually, that wasn't my idea.  My publisher called and said they were seeing a trend, and they wanted to know if I was interested in trying to tell the story of rosé from around the world.

Q. And do you agree that there's a trend towards rosé?

A. Yes, definitely.  For example, there seems to be a real renaissance of rosé making in places like Spain and Italy.  I'm seeing lots of delicious Spanish and Italian rosés that weren't here before.

Q. Tell us what the Rosé Avengers is all about.

A. The Rosé Avengers and Producers, aka RAP, is the Rodney Dangerfield of wine in this country, because most rosé has been pretty mediocre in the past.  What we're trying to do is raise the bar for the category, and help spread the gospel.  We did our first Pink Out! in  San Francisco last summer, and then in New York in May.  We're going to repeat it in San Francisco this year.

Q. Has the response been good?

A. It's been incredible.  We had over sixty global wineries wanting to pour their rosé in New York.  We've had to put a cap on it.

Q. Can anybody join RAP?

A. Absolutely.  It's non-denominational, or at least it doesn't promote any particular wine producer.  And it's free. All you have to do to become a member is to repeat the credo three times: I have seen the pink light and I understand the essence of drinking well.  After you've said it three times you do a pirouette.  And that's it.  You're a member of RAP.

Q. Do you recite this credo in front of a committee, or can you do it in the privacy of your own home?

A. You can do it wherever you want.  It might also be a good idea to register, which you can do at www.rapwine.com. And it certainly would be appropriate to open a bottle of dry rosé to celebrate.