Yeah, I’m going to relish this one a little.
One of the developments I’ve seen in the US wine market has
been the greater demand for rosé. More domestic producers are sending out the
pink product, spending their resource to create better versions. Rosé has
finally differentiated itself in the market from White Zinfandel and other
similarly syrupy sweet concoctions.
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| They're #1! |
One of the Vine’s continual quests is to get the wine
drinkers of our great land to embrace the pink. Trying to buy a particular
bottle of French rosé at Big Wine Store and being rebuffed by one of the
employees on the floor is a significant part of our origin story. I think a
good rosé is just about a perfect wine – refreshing and crisp, yet able to
snuggle up alongside various dishes and cuisines.
My instant love of French rosé set me up as one of the first
bloggy pitchmen for this yummy stuff. The second column
I ever wrote in this space was about rosé. I’ve hearkened back several times to
the wise words of my wine mentor Renee Koerner, “Remember, pink is not a
flavor!” and I’ve written about rosé more times than I can count. (Actually, I
can count it. 35 times!)
So when a news release came across the transom indicating
that a rosé was now the #1 selling French wine in America, I couldn’t help but
smile. The wine in question was Whispering
Angel from Château d’Esclans, which sold 200,000 cases of the stuff in
2016. They first entered the market in 2006 (the Vine’s inaugural year), when
they were pleased to just crack the 5,000 case mark.
Château d’Esclans is in the Côtes de Provence growing region,
the classical center of French rosé production (although the good folks in the
Tavel region of the Rhone valley might question that designation). The Côtes de
Provence produces 75% of all wine in Provence, with 80% of that being rosé. The
main grapes used in Provence rosé are Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvedre.
As a quick review, rosé is produced using two methods, often
in combination. The first is the maceration method – in which red grapes (such
as those mentioned above) are crushed and the juice remains in contact with the
skins for a brief amount of time – from a couple of hours to a day. The longer
the skin contact time, the darker the color and deeper the flavor. The
resulting pink product is then fermented into rosé.
The second method is called saignee or “bleeding.” In this method, a producer making a red wine
will “bleed off” some of the macerating juice after a certain period of time to
further concentrate the flavors and tannins in the remaining red wine-to-be. The
pink-hued bled-off juice, once discarded as an afterthought (especially among
red wine producers in the US) is then fermented into perfectly good rosé. At
least 20% of the blend in a wine from the Côtes de Provence must be produced
via saignee.
I had the opportunity to try the Whispering Angel 2015 Côtes de Provence Rosé side-by-side with its
higher end cousin from Château d’Esclans, the Rock Angel 2015 Côtes de Provence Rose.
One of my favorite vacations with the Sweet Partner in Crime
was a Mediterranean cruise. After stopping in Villefrance-sur-Mer, we took a
train to Nice and had lunch in a little café there (where I now-regretfully
asked why the SPinC’s lunch was called a Nicoise salad – I still haven’t lived
that one down). Of course, we ordered a bottle of Provence rosé. The Whispering
Angel took me right back to that café. It tastes like sunshine and the ocean.
Pale pink, lean, and crisp – with gently acidic flavors of grapefruit and a
backbone of mineral. It calls for leisurely dining over light noshables or the
aforementioned salad. Hard for me to come up with a better example to point at
and say, “This is what Provence rosé tastes like.”
Most wines are crafted for a certain context. Winemakers,
through grape selection, vinification, and aging, determine whether a bottle
will be a simple, straightforward sipping wine, a flexible-but-uncomplicated
table wine, or something richer and more complex. Rather than a lean, stony,
somewhat citrusy sipper, the Rock Angel has a lot going on – a complexity that
I expect out of pricier reds and whites from Burgundy. Strawberries, herbs, and
oranges are some of the flavors I found, along with an interesting creaminess
layered atop the mineral backbone. I’d not tasted a rosé built quite like this
one. This was a rosé you could open with richer preparations of chicken, fish,
or salads and not fear it being run over by flavor. I had to tell myself to
slow down and appreciate this wine, as I tend to drink rosé a little too
quickly.
So, what the catch with all this deliciousness? While the
consumption of French rosé has increased, wineries followed the logical economy
and raised prices. Five years ago, a bottle of Provence rosé was rarely more
than $10-12. The Whispering Angel usually retails for $22, although I found my
bottle for $18. The Rock Angel runs around $30-35. And Château d’Esclans makes
two other, more expensive versions – the most expensive retailing at around
$100. I can’t imagine what that wine would be like (although I’d certainly love
to find out).
This price increase had little to no effect on demand,
especially among high-end drinkers (Google “Hamptons 2016 rosé shortage” for
grins and giggles) – but you and I may need to do a little bargain hunting to
find our pink goodness. From time to time, however, I’ll happily pay a few
extra bucks to reminisce about our old café table…
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