Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Love the depth and intensity of fruit with very subtle cream, stone and light strawberry character. Hints of peach. Medium to full body, bright acidity and a delicate layer of phenolics that give the wine tension and precision. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wood-aged rosé is complex and intense. The rich fruit is only one part of the structure of the wine which is perfumed, mineral and, for a rosé, dense. It is surely intended for food with its concentration and ripe aftertaste. The extra year of aging has made it ready to drink.
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Wine Spectator
Enticing mango, peach and bergamot flavors are allied to a creamy texture and backed by a lingering echo of wet stone on the finish. Grenache and Rolle.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
Cotes de Provence is an extensive but valuable appellation that includes vineyards bordering the main Provencal appellations. Its sites vary from subalpine hills, which receive the cooling effects of the mountains to the north, to the coastal St-Tropez, a region mainly influenced by the warm Mediterranean sunshine.
Here the focus is on quality rosé, as it defines four fifths of the region’s wines. Following in the rosé footsteps, a lot of new effort is going into the region’s red production as well. A new generation has turned its focus on high quality Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Carignan. Cotes de Provence white wines, which represent a miniscule part of the region as far as volume, are nonetheless worthy of consideration and can include any combination of Clairette, Semillon, Ugni Blanc and Vermentino.