Rosé does not come naturally to most Piedmontese winemakers. It is a land of red wine in a variety of shades from a bewildering array of grape varieties. Sometimes, under duress, they will make white wine. Rosé is an afterthought, or something they do to placate their needy American importers. Corte San Pietro is an exception to this rule, a winery that properly celebrates the Barbera grape in all its potential forms. Fabio Ghidella followed his grandfather’s footsteps into the winemaking trade, and the family vineyard is outside the hilltop village of Moasca in the Nizza appellation, Barbera’s spiritual home in Asti. Fabio makes deeply carved, pitch black Nizza, but we suspect he enjoys making the S’Capis rosato just as much. Cheerfully bright notes of cherry and strawberry and wildflowers on the nose. The palate Fabio describes with “a nice acidic shoulder that we can consider the real spinal column of wine”, with deliciously creamy notes of blood orange and strawberry. Fabio also says “In America they would call it "Pool Wine", a pool wine, and that's exactly how we want to imagine our rosé...S'Capis!” Pools are sadly rare in PDX, but in a pinch a picnic blanket by the river will do just fine.