Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/457084
62 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 FIFTY SHADES OF PINK The varietals here are familiar—Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Clairette— but Rolle and Tibouren are uncommon standouts. By AOP rule, rosés are blends (at least 10% of a second grape) and they follow the white wine vinification process, but with red grapes and longer maceration with skins. As simple as it looks, producers must be scrupulous to make brilliant rosé. It's not a by-product of concentrating reds. After a cool night harvest, there's typically but 12–14 hours to choreograph each step before oxidation saps the wine of aroma, structure and freshness. From bud break to crush, decisions are made around that single, half-day of execution. "Hard to make, easy to drink," goes a local saying. Provence rosé's quality-to-value ratio, pairability and lower ABV notwithstanding, much of the joy is the eye candy of those iconic hues. "Quality is in the wine, but pleasure is in the color," said François Millo, Director of the Provence Wine Council. "Our rosé is like the perfect baguette," mused Nathalie Pouzalgues, an enologist at the Research Center for Rosé Wines; "tradition met with precision equals repeat- able results." Provence, the gold standard for rosés everywhere, is becoming paler each year, a sign of increasing virtuosic control in vineyard and cellar. "I just put my finger up like this and voilà, I had a winery," said Patricia Ortelli, owner and winemaker at Château La Calisse in the Côteaux Varois en Provence AOP. She bought the house at an auction and got to work. Twenty-five years later, with stones for vineyard drainage and that ever-present wind for clean leaves, "there's no need for chemicals in the blood. The grapes are much more happy." This respect is echoed across the region. At Château Roubine AOP Côtes de Provence (one of 18 Crus Classés), Valérie Riboud-Rousselle, the fetching blonde owner said, "I didn't choose the vineyard. The vineyard chose me." Sustainable since 2008, the estate graduated to biodynamic in 2010 and then organic in 2012. CÔTES DE PROVENCE On Île de Porquerolles, a quick ferry-jaunt off the coast near Toulon, Sébastien Le Ber is a similar steward at Domaine de l'Île. With his many-days whiskers and tuft of chest hair, Le Ber is a man ruled by nature first, market second and hubris not at all. His long skin contact whites and unwooded reds show the elegant wildness of Rolle and Syrah. "It's not a thirsty wine," said Le Ber. "It's a sipper." There's not just one in Provence, but many. "Don't lump rosés together," said sommelier Cindy Woodman. "Each producer has its own personality and terroir." At Clos Cibonne, another Côtes de Provence Cru Classé, Olivier Roux is the 30-something heir-apparent. He looks like a French Tim Tebow as he explains his Provence at a Glance 600 producers, 40 négociants, 141 million bottles in 2013, 88.5% rosé Provence rosé producers in US: 38 in 2008, 140 in 2014 Provence: 40% of French rosé, 5% of world rosé production 3 main appellations = 99.9% of Provence production Côtes de Provence (72.6%) Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence (17.3%) Coteaux Varois en Provence (10.0%) Clairette at Château Roubine Côtes de Provence Cru Classé AOP. Syrah at Château La Calisse AOP Coteaux Varois. Five points on the color palette outside the Research Center for Rosé Wines. GRAPHIC COURTESY OF CENTRE DU ROSÉ