Best Buy! Ron and Lynn Penner-Ash sold their eponymous winery to California giant Jackson Family Wines in 2016. By 2017, Ron formed Free Public Wines, launching it with a small group that brought backgrounds of Stumptown Coffee Roasters (Michael Etter) and Union Wine Co. (Matt Lounsbury). Both of those companies have a background steeped in canned beverages and relationships with grocers such as Whole Foods Market and customers seeking portable beverages. Their rosé carries “American” as the American Viticultural Area, but it’s produced with Syrah (80%) and Pinot Gris from the Yakima Valley and canned in Prosser, Wash., via a partnership with Four Feathers Wine Estates. It’s a solid example of a dry rosé (0.4% residual sugar), beginning with its light salmon pink color and nose of white peach, dusty red cherry and dried herbs. Those carry through on the palate, picking up Craisins and dried red currant on the way to a crisp finish of yellow grapefruit. These are sold as boxed sets of three 250-milliliter cans, although they also can be found as individual cans. The price listed is for the trio, which works out to be $5 per can. Free Public Wines also is part of the 1% For the Planet global coalition, and their wines are poured at Providence Park during Portland Thorns soccer matches.
Rating: Recommended
Alcohol: 13%
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