2022 Pasxa Rockgarden Estate White

Grape Varietal: Marsanne & Roussanne

Country: USA

Region: The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, Walla Walla Valley, Oregon

The Wine: Pášxa is the Rocks District project of The Walls founder Mike Martin, a focused inquiry into the singular terroir of what critics have called America's most distinctive AVA, producing exclusively single-variety and small-lot Rhône wines from estate fruit under low-intervention principles. The Rockgarden Estate White is a near-equal blend of Marsanne and Roussanne grown at 900 feet on Rockgarden Vineyard — planted in 2007 by Nina Buty and Dr. Phil Freese at one of the highest points in the AVA, where basalt cobblestones from the ancient Walla Walla River run up to 300 feet deep with almost no topsoil. The thermal mass of the stone moderates the extreme climate in both directions, producing white wines of unusual weight and tension. Each block is fermented individually, then aged in concrete and old large-format oak for refinement without extraction.

The 2022 Rockgarden Estate White is a rich, texturally arresting expression that has no obvious local comparison and few national ones. It opens with aromas of honeysuckle, apricot, and cantaloupe, lifted by dried herbs, sagebrush, and a flinty undercurrent of crushed stone. On the palate, it is viscous and broad but held in check by lively acidity, with a mid-palate of stone fruit and beeswax resolving into a saline, mineral-edged finish of real length and composure.

Pairing: Seared sea scallops with brown butter and capers, a whole roasted chicken with tarragon and crème fraîche pan sauce, grilled halloumi with charred stone fruit and sumac, or a long summer lunch of cold poached lobster with aioli eaten somewhere that requires no reservation.