Winemaker Notes
Pale grapefruit pink. Nose is airy and seducing with floral notes of jasmine and fresh vine peach, combined with some citrus hints such as candied pomelo on a creamy, strawberry background. Zesty with a spicy twist. The palate is large, weighty, and smooth, with balanced acidity. It shows satiny pulp with peppery spiciness. The structure holds on zesty phenolics and
balances this textural palate, the lengthy finish comes with lovely concentration.
Serve with marinated tuna with orange, fennel, and Sichuan pepper.
Blend: 39% Cinsault, 37% Grenache, 8% Syrah, 6,5% Mourvèdre, 5% Rolle, 2,5% Sémillon, 1% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 1% Ugni Blanc
In 1958, the Sumeire family who have owned the Font-Freye estate since 1933, acquired this large estate of Château la Tour de l’Evêque near Pierrefeu in the Côtes de Provence, less than 12 miles from the Mediterranean and about 30 miles from Saint Tropez. The estate was formerly the summer residence of the archbishops of Toulon, a neighboring city. The estate also a long history with the people of Provence and the French royalty.
Château la Tour de l’Evêque is located in the hilly valley of the Maurettes, a compact group of mountains in the Côtes de Provence that form an extension of the Massif de Maures. The valley, Phyllades de Hyères consists of shaley soils derived from Silurian layers, and Permian red sandstone. Phyllades refers to the schist that has hardened into structural sheets by metaphorism. Soils are mainly made of clay, shale and limestone. Average age of the vines of in Château la Tour de l’Evêque is 30 years.
The birth of the Pétale de Rose
Once upon a time, a young winemaker, Régine Sumeire wanted to create a pale rosé wine. She had the idea to vinify red grenache by pressing the entire grapes using a Champagne coquard press. The resulting juice that flew from the press had a pale color. The difference was noticeable with a deeper than usual length in the mouth. This is the way the Pétale de Rose was born in 1985, recognized as the first pale rosé in Provence, vinified at Château Barbeyrolles. This vinification method was then used at Château la Tour de l’Evêque to produce a cuvée with the same name.
Régine Sumeire, now the third generation of the Sumeire family, assures the continuity of her family’s work. She likes to say that it is her father who taught her gestures and care of the vineyard. The same father who said to her that he had lived a working life in accordance with her grandfather and who knew how to perfectly reproduce this model with his daughter. The passion for winemaking at Chateau La Tour de l’Eveque Petale de Rosehey both instilled in Régine Sumeire still motivates her today.
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.
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.