Winemaker Notes
Clos Cibonne's iconic Cuvée Spéciale des Vignettes stands uniquely apart from other rosés as a classic, one-of-a-kind Côtes de Provence rosé featuring the tibouren grape in the lead role. Legendary amongst experienced French wine collectors for its texture, substance, and ability to age gracefully for a decade or more, Cuvée Spéciale des Vignettes is aged under fleurette (a thin veil of yeast, similar to the process in Sherry or Jura wines) in 120-year-old, 5,000L foudres for one year. Clos Cibonne crafts a wine that is completely it’s own through combining a rare grape with a unique aging process.
Blend: 90% Tibouren, 10% Grenache
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of tonka beans, spices, vanilla, grapefruit, red berries, iodine and spring flowers preface the 2022 Cotes de Provence Rose Cuvee Speciale des Vignettes from Clos Cibonne, a rosé from Provence crafted with a dominant proportion of Tibouren. Medium to full-bodied, round and sappy, it’s well structured with a phenolic, gastronomic bitterness, a fleshy core of fruit and a long, penetrating, iodine-tinged finish.
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Wine Spectator
Vibrant copper-hued and truly distinctive, this burly rose leads with expressive waves of singed orange peel, red currant and guava. Very fleshy and also pure, with hints of salt, green herbs and citrus zest adding lift to the complex, weighty palate. Warm hay notes and a bitter tug of tannins mark the finish.
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.