Provence rosé: our top 30
With its combination of freshness and reliable simplicity, the elegantly pale Provençal rosé is many people’s go-to for an al fresco drink in high summer. Our expert picks 30 fine examples of the style to enjoy in the sunshine
Perfect for those sunny al fresco afternoons, selected by Elizabeth Gabay MW
Provence stretches from the Mediterranean coast in the south to the foothills of the southern Alps in the north, from the Rhône valley in the west to Italy in the east. The three largest appellations of Côtes de Provence, Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence and Coteaux Varois en Provence together account for more than 90% of the volume of Provence rosé. The three work together as a marketing team and clearly market the word Provence in their appellation name and as a cohesive brand.
Côtes de Provence covers a large area, from the coast to higher inland sites. It has five regional zones identified as ‘denominations de terroir’.
The coastal La Londe denomination and Pierrefeu, just inland, are both on schist soils, typically giving their wines a mineral, sometimes saline edge. Ste-Victoire’s limestone slopes produce wines with broader, fresher acidity, further emphasised by some altitude. Fréjus, meanwhile, on the red volcanic slopes of the Esterel massif, produces wines with more structure. And Notre-Dame-des-Anges in the warm central valley of Provence produces rounder, ripe fruit.
Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, while equally diverse, has no indicated sub-zones, and Coteaux Varois en Provence is based on cooler uplands stretching to the north.
IDENTITY PARADE
Provence winemakers work hard to reconcile ‘Provence’ as a unifying brand that expresses a regional identity – and that clearly came through in this tasting. The vast majority of rosés tasted conformed to this identifiable ‘Provençal style’ of a paler-than-pale pink with ripe fruit and broad mouthfeel, a dry, mineral finish and fresh acidity. Only a few had the once-ubiquitous grapefruit thiol character, a symptom of yeasts and overly enthusiastic reductive winemaking.
Quality was consistently high (the only fault was excessivly reductive winemaking), with some squeaky-clean wines at all price points. The downside was an almost unending monotony of style. Going through all 300 tasting notes, it read like a litany of ‘no colour, creamy white fruit, fresh acidity’. Oak was used by a number of producers, but only a few handled the oak with style, and at times some slightly heavy-handed oak character overwhelmed more delicate fruit.
This was exacerbated by the nature of the hot 2020 vintage, wines from which dominated the tasting. Winemakers either picked a little earlier to retain acidity, or the fruit shut down phenolic development, and the number of overly delicate and neutral rosés I tasted was higher than normal. Not a problem if drunk chilled in the summer, but it doesn’t make them prize-winning.
There may be some surprises. Some rosés tasted back in January showed excessive delicacy at that time, but when tasted again in May were opening up to show more charm (although still lacking the strength and complexity of the 2019 vintage). Inevitably, the rosés that scored highest were those that had more character. Unsurprisingly, given that 2020 was a hot vintage, two-thirds of the top 30 wines came from the cooler maritime regions or from the higher altitudes of Coteaux Varois en Provence or Ste-Victoire.
Fame and price were certainly not guaranteed indicators for the best rosés, with production prices elevated by the cost of land and property. Celebrity purchases may have cast a spotlight on some of the high costs of estates in Provence, but outside investment has resulted in many modernised cellars, and significant marketing budgets have created plenty of well-known names. There were some high-scoring wines from lesser-known estates, too, which were good discoveries, yet to be exported.
With a style of wine that’s often praised for its colour, freshness and simplicity, the best managed to play with that style to deliver weight and complexity within these parameters, although wines that stood out with greater expression of individual character reflected some confident and imaginative winemaking.
‘Quality was consistently high, with some squeaky-clean wines at all price points’