Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The finest rosé yet from this estate (the wine is made by the top notch team at Chateau Beaucastel), the light pink colored 2014 Cotes de Provence Rose sports a fresh and lively bouquet of wild strawberries, raspberries and white flowers to go with a supple, lightly textured, silky and seamless feel on the palate. About as gulp-able and hard to resist as they come, it's a killer rosé to drink over the coming 6-8 months.
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Wine & Spirits
The advantage of tasting wine blind is that star power has no effect. So, while some people will buy this simply because it comes from the estate that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie own in Correns, just north of Brignoles in Provence, our panel recommended it because it’s graceful and firm, a rose with conviction. The fruit feels diaphanous, allowing a clear view to the chalky minerality that runs through the wine; the acidity feels vibrant, extending the flavors and whetting the palate for another sip. It’s made in conjunction with the Famille Perrin, in their facilities.
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Wine Spectator
A light rosemary thread weaves around a core of white cherry and dried tea leaf notes, lingering on the refreshing finish, where stylish rose water and white peach accents chime in. A pure style.
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.