2013 RMS was the first Sparkling wine released by Roco Winery of Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Rollin Soles Roco's owner and winemaker has been making wines in Willamette Valley for over 30 years and started his own label in 2013. He was one of Oregon pioneers of sparkling wine and trained and curated many winemakers in the region.
We were introduced to Willamette Valley bubbles over a decade ago and became instant fans. Since then, we tasted many vintages as far back as 1997 and always have a few Willamette Valley bubbles in our cellar. We love horizontal (same year/producer - different wines) and vertical (same wine - different years) tastings because it's a quintessential wineswinging experience. In the past year, we had a chance to compare Roco's 2015 RMS Brut and 2016 Rose Brut. That's why it was even more fun to revisit the inaugural RMS vintage.
When we discovered the 2013 RMS in our cellar, we were a bit concerned if we kept it for too long. It's a common myth that wine gets better with age. It's even less accurate for Champagne and sparkling wine. A small fraction of the world's wines and bubbles meant to be aged.
Sparkling wines may lose their freshness, fruit, and bubbles over time. Generally, only the French millésime Champagnes (with vintage year on the label) considered worthy of aging because they can evolve and gain more complexity with age. In the case of millésime, winemaker decides whether they want to hold back a release and for how long and monitor the process of aging by regular tastings. When winemaker decides that millésime is at its peak taste, he or she will release it for sale. Sometimes winemakers can hold back releasing non-vintage bubbles as well if he or she thinks it will be beneficial.
For us, Champagne fans, it's simple: if it's available for sale, the winemaker decided that it's as good as it's ever gonna get.
Roco RMS 2013
Roco RMS 2013 Tasting Notes
We love Oregon bubbles, but they have too short of history to establish a track record of age-ability. To our great surprise, we were blown away by the quality of Roco's first bubbles.
2013 RMS had a pale straw color, and that was a good sign indicating that it kept well. The aromas were vivid with notes of fresh-cut apple, candied apple, and cookie dough. Interestingly that the cookie dough aromas weren't in our tasting notes at the time of the release. It was exciting to sense this transformation of RMS because brioche or cookie dough is a hallmark of French Champagne, and rarely as pronounced in Oregon sparkling.
On the palate, it was just as lively with flavors of lemon, apple, green pear, and fresh-baked brioche.
RMS had lasting finish, creamy mousse, refreshing acidity, and felt more substantial than we recall from the first tasting.
In the end, we were happy that we kept 2013 RMS for an extended period. It allowed us to test its age-ability and showed us the potential of Willamette Valley sparkling wines in general.
We are lucky to have such talented winemakers like Rollin Soles of Roco and others so close to home. It offers us endless opportunities to go wineswinging and enjoy fantastic bubbles.