Review: Bryn Mawr NV Brut Rose and 2021 Dolcetto

We are returning to the wines of Bryn Mawr in the Willamette Valley, Oregon to sample two recent releases we haven’t tried before: a brut rosé and a Dolcetto. For different reasons, both are rather unusual wines. Let’s explore.

NV Bryn Mawr Brut Rosé – 73% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Gris, 9% Chardonnay, 3% Meunier, all from the Willamette Valley. This sparkling wine is not made using secondary fermentation. Instead, bubbles are infused into the wine during bottling. An interesting choice which is usually reserved for inexpensive sparkling wines. Let’s see how it plays out in the bottle. The wine pours a lovely salmon color and shows ample effervescence. Both the nose and the palate show strawberry, raspberry, some butter, and bracing acidity. The wine is quite dry, but the fruit notes make it seem sweeter. The mouthfeel, however, is a bit of a disappointment. The bubbles are larger than I would like and don’t provide the creamy mouthfeel that distinguishes higher quality sparkling wines. Also, there is a chalky note to the palate which, when paired with the fruit notes, tastes a bit like crushed Pez candy. But the wine’s fruitiness and high acidity suggest it would pair beautifully with brie or other creamy cheese. B / $35

2021 Bryn Mawr Dolcetto Estate – 100% Dolcetto. This grape variety is not often grown outside of the Piedmont region in northern Italy, and I was excited to see how it responds to an entirely different terroir. The wine pours deep purple in the glass. The nose is restrained, showing light notes of blueberry, plum, and black tea along with a touch of eucalyptus. On the palate, the wine is bone dry and shows some interesting complexity. The cassis and plum notes are gentle and held firmly in check by the wine’s exceptional structure, marked both by high acidity and solid tannins. The medium finish sees all of these flavors disappear into those drying tannins. B+ / $35

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