Pinot Grigio Rosé (2021)

About this wine

This is a rosato made from 100 percent Pinot Grigio with a pale salmon color and clean aromatic lift showing wild strawberry, pink grapefruit, and a touch of rose petal. The palate is light to medium bodied with brisk acidity and a saline mineral thread that keeps the fruit focused and fresh. Texture is smooth rather than oily, with fine grain and a drying citrus peel note on the finish. Production typically uses a short skin contact to pull a ramato tone from the Pinot Grigio skins, followed by cool temperature fermentation in stainless steel to preserve primary aromatics. The wine is bottled for early drinking and represents a Friuli style that emphasizes clarity, bright fruit, and refreshing structure.

About the grape

Pinot Grigio originated as a gray skinned mutation of Pinot Noir in Burgundy and migrated into northeastern Italy many centuries ago where it found a different climate and soil profile. In Friuli Pinot Grigio flourished on cool, Adriatic influenced sites with alluvial and calcareous soils, and growers often use Guyot training and careful canopy work to preserve acidity and aromatic lift. For rosato bottlings like the 2021 Fratelli Cozza the variety is typically given brief skin contact or light maceration to extract a coppery ramato color and delicate phenolics while keeping the wine fresh. Today producers in the region favor gentle pressing and cool fermentation of Pinot Grigio to highlight its crisp structure and varietal perfume in pink wines as well as in whites.

Quick facts

• 👨‍👩‍👦 Fratelli Cozza is a family brand that was recently revived by Stefano Cozza, with a nephew returning from California to bring new ideas to the traditional family business.
• 🗺️ Although the bottle lists Friuli as the origin, the Cozza family also has deep roots in Abruzzo and Veneto, so this rosé carries a blend of Italian regional stories in every sip.
• 🌸 This Pinot Grigio rosé is made from a normally white grape, so the pale pink color comes from a playful short touch of the skins rather than from red grape varieties.
• 💶 The Fratelli Cozza Pinot Grigio Rosé is marketed as an everyday Italian rosé and often appears in value friendly price ranges in US retailers, making it a popular inexpensive import choice.
• 🔎 You can find multiple vintages of this rosé on consumer sites, which means fans sometimes hunt different years to spot small changes in fruit and freshness between releases.

Palate profile

Producer

Fratelli Cozza is a family-owned winery with a rich heritage spanning generations, rooted in the renowned Italian wine regions of Veneto, Friuli, Emilia, and Puglia. Under the leadership of Stefano Cozza, who brings over 40 years of industry experience, the winery has been revitalized, blending traditional practices with modern innovations. Stefano's nephew, Dario, returned from a decade in California to join the family business, infusing fresh perspectives into their time-honored traditions. Committed to sustainable and eco-friendly winemaking, Fratelli Cozza emphasizes manual harvesting and minimal use of sulfites, ensuring the production of healthy, top-quality wines that honor their Italian roots.