Winemaker Notes
Lovely rose color with blueish hints. Fruity aromas - strawberry, cherry, redcurrant, pink grapefuit & tangerine - combine with floral scents or class rose fragrance. Fresh, round and smooth.
Blend: 60% Grenache, 10% Cinsault, 10% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 5% Bourboulenc, 5% Clairette
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Perfumed notes of fresh boysenberry and black cherry are lifted by a cutting mineral edge in this rosé. Black fruit flavors are intensely ripe and penetrating, accented by shavings of black pepper and a firm, fine-grained grip of tannins. This solidly structured, thrilling wine should improve through 2023.
Editors' Choice -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Cotes Du Rhone La Dame Rousse Rose offers another level of elegance and purity as well as complexity. Giving up notions of ripe strawberries, cherry blossoms, white flowers, and a kiss of minerality, it’s a beautifully textured, medium to full-bodied, incredibly balanced effort that actually has a touch more richness than the Tavel, although both are rich, textured rosés geared for the table. As with the Tavel, drink this beauty any time over the coming year or so.
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.
The only all-rosé appellation in the Rhone, a Tavel comes in many hues from light salmon to bright pink and is said to be the only rosé that can actually age—and improve. The rosé wines of Tavel have a great historic reputation, having been favored by King Louis XIV in the 18th century, as well as famous authors, Balzac and Mistral.
Tavel are always dry but the high percentage of the fruity Grenache (30-60% of the blend by law) and even Cinsault, give charming aromas and flavors that make them feel "almost sweet." A great Tavel rosé will have a bouquet suggestive of rose petals, apricot, strawberry and red currant. The palate may be fleshy, round and layered but is always fresh and balanced.