Provence is in the pink

Jan 11 2008 by Helen Savage, The Journal

SOME regions are famous for red wine, others for white; not many specialise in rosé.

The small appellation of Tavel in the southern Rhone Valley is alone in being uniquely pink (if the growers there make red or white wine it’s sold as Lirac). The locals insist, as they’ve done for decades, that theirs is the best rosé in the world. But there are many other good pink wines from southern France, especially from the vast, sprawling, stony vineyards of Provence.

For generations, probably for centuries, rosé has been the ordinary, everyday drink of Provence, the ideal partner for a cuisine built on little red meat, but an abundance of wonderful, flavour-packed vegetables, olive oil and fish. It’s made from black grapes which are crushed just long enough for the skins (where all the pigment is) to stain the juice pink.

Rosé is big business in Provence – roughly three-quarters of all the wine made in the three appellations of Cotes de Provence, Coteaux d’Aix en Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence, a 30-mile-wide band of vines that stretches from the Rhone estuary in the west to the outskirts of Cannes, well over 100 miles to the east. Because the locals drink so much of it and also sell a huge amount to the droves of tourists who crowd on to the Provencal beaches every year, until recently a relatively small proportion of the production has been exported and it has not always been easy to find in our shops.

But it’s well worth seeking out because it has a style all of its own. Traditional Provencal rosé is a very pale salmon pink, which very quickly fades to a delicate onion-skin colour. It’s made from just about any red grapes that the winemaker has to hand, and like Chateau Cavalier Cotes de Provence Rosé 2006 (£7.49 at Oddbins), can be a blend of half a dozen or more varieties, more often than not based largely on Grenache and Cinsault.

Indeed Cinsault, not the most exciting grape for red wine, really comes into its own as rosé. It brings a welcome lightness and crispness to blends that might otherwise be a shade flabby, soft and too headily alcoholic.

Provencal rosé is dry – nothing at all like semi-sweet White Zinfandel (a style I don’t much care for) and though not especially fruity, is often herby (like my wine of the week – Domaine Verlaque), almost as if has magically absorbed the smell of the wild herbs that grow beside the vineyards. It’s also slightly spicy and even a little savoury.

It’s perfect with food and has enough depth of flavour to stand up to the kind of comforting, flavourful food suited to a cold January evening. It’s definitely not just for summer. Chateau Cavalier is a typical pale salmon pink and, while gently fruity, with hints of cherry, redcurrant and strawberry, it has real complexity and an impressive depth of flavour.

Some estates in the Cotes de Provence have real pretensions to grandeur and style themselves ‘Grand Cru Classé’ as if they were swanky Bordeaux chateaux, but the best Provencal rosés, including the finest Tavel can offer, are wines to enjoy without ceremony or pretension and there’s no need to pay the earth for them. My all-time favourite Tavel, Chateau d’Aquéria, costs £8.99 (at Waitrose or £9.99 at Majestic – but £8.99 if you buy two). That’s quite enough. The 2006 is worth it. It’s soft, very dry and stylish with plenty of strawberry fruit.

We’re drinking more and more pink wine in the UK. Imports rose over 200% between 2001 and 2006 alone. And yet, although three out of every four bottles of pink wine are made in Europe, Provence, one of the world’s biggest rosé-producing regions, has largely missed out over here. Is it too late to grab a slice of the action? Provence Wine, the body that represents the growers of the three big appellations, hopes not and is aiming to double sales here over the next three to four years.

One reason for their new interest in the British market is that their domestic one is shrinking. Fewer young people in France drink wine regularly and strict drink-driving laws have made the long, leisurely Provencal a less boozy affair than was once the case.

Lots of winemakers in France are looking for new markets. It remains to be seen whether or not Provencal Rosé will become, as Provence Wines hope, the premium rosé of choice in the UK, but it’s certainly great to see more of it on our shelves.

It’s deliciously different.

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Wine of the week

Domaine Verlaque, Cotes de Provence, Rose 2006, Marks & Spencer, £6.99

Delicately pretty and distinctively dry Provencal rose, with a distinct scent of wild herbs and plenty of ripe strawberry fruit. It has a very soft, mineral salts finish. Try it with oily fish.

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Wine shorts

Bergerac is another region that makes great pink wine. In this case it’s usually a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It tends to be quite a deep pink, with lots of strawberry and raspberry fruit but quite dry. I’m delighted to see that Waitrose have landed a good example, Foncaussade les Parcelles Rosé 2006, for a very reasonable £5.29.