One of the outstanding producers of new world sparkling wine, Rollin Soles is undoubtedly the sparkling wine master of Oregon. Long before the sparkling wine craze of the last few years came into play in Oregon, Rollin Soles was making killer sparkling wines at Argyle. I admired these wines for many years, especially his ‘Extended Tirage’ bottling that I would collect when I was in their wine club. Bottlings from ’98 and ’00 linger very fondly in my memory.
Rollin saw the chance to start his own winery and created ROCO. He only has recently been making sparkling wine for his winery but the results have been absolutely tremendous. These sparkling wines have been on my Top 100 consistently. For my palate the level of finesse, texture, mousse and depth is really gorgeous. These are refined sparkling wines that are amongst the best in North America. Look to the gorgeous new Rose, the 2018 ROCO ‘RMS’ Rose Sparkling Wine (OB, 96) which has gobs of bright red fruits with great nuance and a silky texture. Learn more about these amazing wines at https://rocowinery.com Here are my reviews of the beautiful new ROCO sparkling wines.
2017 Roco ‘RMS’ Sparkling Wine- The 2017 ‘RMS’ is a stunning new warm vintage wine that shows plenty of heft and finesse. Only 12.5% alcohol, this comes off nicely fat on the mid-palate with plenty of depth and weight. This is obviously dense but the balance here is just extraordinary. Rich layers of lemon zest dusted sourdough bread, salted Macadamia nut, marzipan and honeydew melon all entice on the palate. This is seriously hard to resist stuff by Oregon bubbles superstar Rollin Soles. Drink 2021-2035- 95
2018 ROCO ‘RMS’ Rose Sparkling Wine- Super fresh and refined, this is a stunning new bottling by superstar winemaker Rollin Soles. Bright guava, strawberry and wet stone tons all fill the nose. The palate is fresh and refined with a great beam of tension and silky mouthfeel. The palate shows really juicy red fruits with melon, and flinty tones. The wonderful feeling of mousse makes this even more refined. Drinking beautifully now, this has at least another decade ahead of it. Drink 2021-2035- 96