by Daenna Van Mulligen
They are a true celebration of summer and a call to start dining on the patio.
I t’s possible pink could be the perfect drink. Imagine, if you will, a bistro table adorned with a chilled and dewy bottle perched alongside a perfectly poured glass of rosé resembling liquid sunshine with rose-gold glints. Is your mouth watering yet? While rosé wines worldwide can vary from light ruby red and candy floss to the barest amber flush, the world seems to have an affinity for the palest of pinks—precisely the barely blushing shades that define Provençal rosé. Southern France’s light-red wines from Provence have been consumed for millennia, thanks to Greek Phocaeans who arrived with grape vines 2,600 years ago. Over the centuries, these palest of red wines were applauded by royalty and joyfully consumed by commoners. In recent decades, they have inspired the world to not only embrace, but thirst for pink. While Spain is actually the largest producer of pink wines (generally darker in shade), Provence is undeniably the heart of rosé production worldwide. Its Mediterranean location is perfectly situated to grow the red varieties used to make its famous wines. The five main red grapes used for blending these consequential wines are: Grenache,
which adds body; Carignan, which increases robustness; Cinsault, which lends freshness and fruity characters; the supple Mourvèdre, which adds tannic structure; and Syrah which adds the deep colour. Delicacy and finesse are thanks to Tibouren. Small amounts of local white grape varieties can be blended in to add additional flavour and roundness. The roughly 150-million-bottle annual production of pink Provençal wines comes from three appellations: Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d’Aix-en- Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence. Easternmost and not far from Nice, the Côtes de Provence is the largest appellation and home to the five smaller designated terroirs of Saint- Victoire, Fréjus, La Londe, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame des Anges. In total, it produces about 116 million bottles per year, and 92 percent of those are rosé. These brilliant, engaging wines suggest notes of roses, melon, peach, tropical fruits and citrus. Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, just south of the Rhône Valley, is the western boundary of the region where 32 million bottles are filled per year, 86 percent of those with rosé. The wines from Aix- en-Provence lean towards red berries and white-and-yellow-fleshed fruits and are known for their great acidity.
Finally, sandwiched in the middle,
and north of Toulon, is Varois en Provence. Pink constitutes 93 percent of that appellation’s 18 million or so annual bottles. The wines are ample and deliver sun-ripened berry and tropical fruit notes. While we might see the region’s light-hued wines as quite similar, Vins de Provence, in partnership with the Centre de Recherche et d’Expérimentation sur le Vin Rosé, developed a colour chart of six main Provençal-specific pinkish hues, peach being the lightest. The next five, growing marginally deeper in colour: melon, mango, pomelo, redcurrant and the more orangey mandarin. Colour definitely provides visual appeal, but what impacts the shade of a blend is how long the grape skins remain in contact with the juice. It is the skins of red grapes that contain the pigment that produces rosé’s varying hues of colour; the pulp, which contains the juice, is colourless. And because Provence is the embodiment of lightly stained rosés, their skins and juice have very little contact—maceration from merely two to 20 hours. Think of it as steeping grapes to extract not only colour but also aromas and tannins into the juice. Alternatively, a direct press, whereby red grapes are pressed very
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