ROSA FIERRO CELLARS

Winemaker Rosa Fierro (“Rosie”) grew up in San Lorenzo, where her family always had a big jug of Carlo Rossi wine on the kitchen table.  Rosie rediscovered wine in 2009 through a good friend at work, who managed a tasting room in Livermore.  She often visited the tasting room and was always jumping behind the bar to help pour wines when things got busy, which eventually led to helping with harvest, bottling, and blending wines.  The winery was a very different environment from her professional job as a legal assistant in a high-rise in San Francisco, and it really fit her personality.  One night she assisted the winemaker with pressing port in the garage, and was totally hooked – she drove home at 2 AM with an overwhelming spiritual feeling that this is what she should be doing forever.   The next year, she bought some grapes and began making her own wine at a big production facility in Livermore, where she was lucky enough to work side by side with some of the greatest winemakers in Livermore Valley.  They became her mentors, teaching and encouraging her to make the highest quality wines possible. As they each left the facility to start their own wineries, she knew she wanted to do the same. In 2014, she launched Rosa Fierro Cellars, and increased her wine production with the help and love of friends and family.  Rosie finally took the ultimate plunge in 2020, opening her tasting room and winemaking facility in the urban-style hub of wineries known as “Vasco Row” on the Eastern end of Livermore.  You can almost always find Rosie behind the counter in her tasting room, waiting to welcome you and share her passion for wine.

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Rosie’s take on the LVVC project:

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I have always wanted to be a part of the Livermore Valley Vintner’s Collective, and am excited that I am finally in a space where I can really focus on the project.  The winemakers in the group are incredibly talented, and I enjoy the camaraderie, collaboration, and all that I learn from them about winemaking and the Livermore Valley. My 2020 blend is a true “vintners’ collective” blend and was blended progressively over a month’s time – in 2020, the blend required five wines, but I had only made two red wines that season.  The collective encouraged me to source the remaining three wines from other winemakers in the collective.  I first blended the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from my winery.  After that, I decided to add Malbec from Wood Family to the mix (one of my all-time favorite wines).  To this blend, I added Petite Sirah from Page Mill, and then picked the final wine, Barbera, from a blind tasting at Las Positas Winery.  After blending, the wines were aged together in a once-used Demptos French Oak barrel.  The wine is bright, lively and assertive, with graceful tannins and a long lingering finish.

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The Blend:

2020 Vintage

20% Cabernet Sauvignon
20% Cabernet Franc
20% Malbec
20% Petite Sirah
20% Barbera