Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 90% Tibouren and 10% Grenache matured in 300-liter barrels over 10 months, the 2022 Cotes de Provence Rose Cuvee Prestige Caroline from Clos Cibonne possesses a deep, perfumed bouquet of vanilla pod, grapefruit, spices, garrigue and blood orange. Medium to full-bodied, enveloping and sappy, it’s perfectly balanced with a fleshy core of fruit for a rosé wine and a long, penetrating and iodine-tinged finish. Rating: 93+
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Wine Spectator
An alluring version, with its floral and orange Creamsicle perfume revealing a weighty, earthy palate offering white cherry and orange blossom notes. White mocha creaminess on the palate is energized by cool stone minerality, while white tea tannins bring shape and length. Despite the richness and oak influence, this is dry, salty and fresh on the finish. Tibouren and Grenache. Drink now through 2030.
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.