How Kalamaja Rosé was born, or a small experiment in Austria

Sometimes we are asked how Vabrik's "own wine" truly came to be. Did we just stick our label on it? Not at all. The story of this wine began with a small experiment in a winery in Austria's Weinviertel DAC region, where winemaker Andreas, open to challenges, listened to our wine expert Andre's opinion on Estonians' rosé preferences.

The winemaker who listened to an Estonian

It's not usually the case that winemakers let an outsider start teaching in their cellar. They have their own traditions and their own ways of doing things. But Andreas Urban was open-minded enough to go along with Vabrik's "great leader" Andre Peremees's slightly crazy idea.

We wanted to create something that would be livelier and more exciting than a completely ordinary rosé wine. Not just another fruity rosé, but something with a little more character.

The secret lies...

Kalamaja Rosé's base wine comes from the Zweigelt grape, a classic Austrian red varietal, but this wine's little twist comes from elsewhere entirely.

First, a wine is made from Sauvignon Blanc. This is a well-known white wine, in which one can sense gooseberry, nettle, and good acidity. Then the wine ages in stainless steel tanks, and the remaining lees are usually removed. Our trick, however, was that we wanted to use these Sauvignon Blanc lees instead.

We added these lees to the base wine made from Zweigelt grapes to give it more zest and minerality.

A slightly different rosé

Therefore, Kalamaja Rosé is not just a fruity wine. Here, one can also sense nettle and blackcurrant, which makes this wine livelier and a little more interesting.

If you want to know what this experiment tastes like, it's available in our e-shop. You can order it home or visit us and try it on site. This is exactly the wine we want to drink ourselves in the summer.