Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
This wine has come to be an icon of this style in recent years and, unlike the other rosés in the d'Esclans stable is vinified solely in stainless steel. Very pretty on the nose with soft red fruits and violet notes. There is a juicy quality to the palate with good concentration of ripe berry fruit held together by a bright but not overbearing acidity. Shows its class with a mineral streak and a long, persistent finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Alluring, with a creamy feel to the mix of white peach, mango and white cherry fruit flavors that stay nicely defined on the finish, thanks to a subtle mineral edge.
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.