A glass of good rose seems to accentuate the lightness and brightness of a Summer afternoon or evening. If you're like me there is a point on the thermometer, somewhere north of 85 degrees, at which red wine becomes more of a chore than a joy to drink. Many white wines and good, dry roses offer the refreshment that is necessary to survive the heat. Not just that, but rose is one of the most food friendly styles of wine available and can also make a terrific aperitif.
My personal favorite roses come from sunny Provence in southern France. Last summer we featured the rose of a solid Southern Rhone producer, Domaine Lafond's Tavel, as a wine club selection. Tavel, which is the only A.O.C. entirely dedicated to the production of pink wines, tends to make wines of big structure and stature with lots of echos of the red wines made in neighboring villages; bold red fruits, peppery spice and higher levels of extraction and alcohol. In contrast, most Provencial rose is lighter and more delicate in balance and flavor. Minerality, crisp acidity and pretty light fruits combine to create wines of seemingly higher pitch than the weightier Tavels. The Domaine de l'Hermitage is an excellent example of this style: understated light red fruits (strawberry!), some citrus, a tinge of sweet green herbs, and a unique combination of acidity and minerality that create texture. My notes claim, "seems almost like the texture of fresh Chevre."
Bandol is now highly regarded for it's red wines, especially those of Domaine Tempier and Domaine Terrebrune, but like much of the surrounding regions of Provence rose is the style with the longest associations. In 1951, 95% of Domaine Tempier's production was rose and Tempier didn't produce more red than rose until 1973. Domaine Tempier's rose (like it's reds) are among the most highly regarded in the region and I recently opened my last bottle of the '07 (by the way, Jp Wine Bar still has one remaining bottle of the rare Domaine Tempier Blanc '07 if there's anyone out there who cares to race me to it). The '07 rose showcases the finesse and balance of these wines with an intriguing herbal smokiness . Finesse isn't the word to describe red Bandol which veers towards the heavy, gamey, very smokey side of the equation due to it's predominance of the Mouvedre grape. But rose Bandol, which tends to be driven by Cinsault, a lighter red grape, tends to be among the most elegant and restrained roses in the world. Many new world roses seem to be blaringly loud speakers (with lots of fruit extraction and often significant residual sugar), Tavel speaks directly with a certain gravity and candor. Bandol is more like a whisperer.
Pink wine is often times wrongfully dismissed as "not serious" or "cloyingly sweet". The experience of drinking the pink wines on the quality end of the spectrum however is quite different. These may not be as "brooding" or "deep" or "heavy" as many reds but they aren't usually silly sweet wines either (of course there are great rosés that have some residual sugar just like there are great whites and even some reds that contain significant residual sugar, but the sweet rosés aren't necessarily the rule or standard). On the contrary, lots of them have a shock of sharp acidity, intense expressions of minerality and fruit characters that are cool and refreshing rather than hot, tannic and alcoholic. Here, complexity and elegance aren't a matter of size, concentration, volume or power.
Cheers!
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