Rose by any other name

Provence is almost the centre of the wine universe right now. As the wine style of Rose continues to grow and displace both whites and reds as the go-to wine, the home of the dominant style; Provence, has come in to focus.

Provence is a diverse part of France and the style of Rose varies quite a bit, but the image you probably have in your mind is a pale salmon colour, delicate, crisp, dry and subtly fruity.

The part of Provence that you will most likely be drinking your Rose wine from is the Cotes de Provence, which makes up around three quarters of all Provence wine, and well over half the Rose in the region. That wine will likely be made predominantly from Grenache, Cinsaut, Mourvedre and maybe some Shiraz or Carignan. The three principal varieties work well because they bring a balance of structural and flavour components from the front to the back of the palate.

The reason you can be confident that this is what you will find in your glass is the more stringent regional wine laws in France when compared to Australia. The grape varieties listed above are just 5 of 11 varieties permitted in the region, you can be certain that there will be no other, or more, varieties in the wine. There must typically be at least 70 per cent of the blend coming from some mix of Cinsaut, Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah or Tibouren. This helps to maintain the integrity of the region and its history to avoid the wines becoming too “international” with over cropping of grapes that are potentially more commercially successful such as Cabernet, Shiraz, or becoming too thin and poor quality by using a lot of high-yielding Carignan. Beyond this point of quality control, some regions or groups of producers within the regions will classify the estates and/or vineyards to identify the best and enforce even more stringent standards.

Provence is a little obscure in this respect. They instigated a classification in the 1950s, setting a benchmark for quality before the region was officially given a regional designation and the subsequent laws that in part restrict the grape varieties and proportions permitted mentioned earlier. The classification hasn’t changed since the 19050s, though, and for that matter, it can’t. The 18 estates that may print Cru Classe on their label (signifying their place within the classification) cannot be removed, nor can others be added. Thus the existing owners benefit from the reputation and branding benefits with little risk of losing it. While the clear risk is for producers to become lazy, Domaine de Rimauresq certainly aren’t a producer resting on their laurels. Their Cru Classe Rose ($37) was awarded the best Rose in the world at the Decanter World Wine awards. It is a lovely Rose of strawberry, rose petals and subtle spice. The depth of flavours is excellent, but don’t confuse this for weight or heaviness, the wine is so elegant and retains lovely acidity that leaves your palate feeling refreshed and ready for more. A relatively small price to plant a clear picture in your mind of what “Provence-style” Rose should look like.