The Rosé Wines of Provence: The colour might be pale, but these wines have depth

There is a feeling associated with the Vins de Provence wine region and nothing else seems to sum it up better than the expression, “joie-de-vivre”. It’s the relaxed glamour of a white shirt billowing in the breeze, lazily buttoned in two places down the front. It’s an elbow propped on a table with a hand hanging in the air like an unfinished sentence. Blow-dried hair pushed off the face with huge, round sunglasses and a long, contented sigh. 

What is it about this part of southern France that just seems to make your bones relax? 250 days of sunshine per year, fresh sea air, the scent of lavender on the wind… and, of course, a devotion to good food and wine. Yep, that would probably do it.

Nothing could have introduced me to Provence better than lunch at Café Caumont with Eric Kurver, owner and winemaker of AIX Rosé. Eric hails from the Netherlands but he is someone who fell in love with the Provence life, so he knows exactly what is so seductive about it. Life here is beautiful, but it is also friendly and easy-going. 

Eric wanted to create a wine that wouldn’t intimidate his customers, which was simple to order and a pleasure to drink, starting with the name. Three letters, ‘AIX’; written large on the label and instantly recognisable. He imagined his customers saying, “I’ll have a bottle of AIX” and, because there is only one AIX Rosé, there would be nothing more to worry about, aside from deciding on the size (it is available in every kind of bottle, up to a 15 litre Nebuchadnezzar!).

“People don’t have to spend ages talking about the wine,” says Eric. “The wine is done, then you can talk about what you want to talk about – the important things in life.”

I liked Eric’s philosophy. It married with my visions of Provence – this relaxed, uncomplicated place, which valued the simple and good things in life, like friendship and food. Yet, the simple life doesn’t necessarily mean simple wine. In fact, quite the opposite.

“Rosé is one of the most difficult wines to make,” Nathalie Pouzalgues tells us at the Centre du Rosé, the leading educational centre in the world for rosé wine. “It’s a very technical wine.”

That pale salmon pink colour that we associate with wines from Provence isn’t easy to achieve. Rosé wines are made from black grapes (in Provence, these are likely to be Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault), which are directly pressed very gently to release the juice. The grape skins are in contact with the white juice for a very short amount of time (just a few hours), so that some colour, flavour and tannin is released into the juice. Timing is absolutely crucial to achieve the precise balance of flavour, character and colour in these wines.

Is this attention to detail the same everywhere in the world when it comes to making rosé? Actually, no. In most winemaking regions around the world, rosé production is a by-product of red wine production. Here in Provence, although all three colours of wine are made, rosé accounts for a whopping 91% of the total wine produced in the region. Rosé is a priority for Provence, which, in turn, means that the quality is second to none. The best grapes in the vineyards will go into making rosé, not red wines, and they will be picked at exactly the right time to make rosé, not red. This is why the balance between fruit and acidity is perfect and why rosé wines from Provence have become so celebrated around the globe. As Jérome from Château Léoube told us, “Rosé in Provence is different from rosé anywhere else in the world”.

Château Léoube

‘Rosé in Provence’ might be different from the rest of the world’s rosé, but one rosé from Provence is also different from the next rosé from Provence. Across the three appellations, AOC Côtes de Provence, AOC Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence and AOC Coteaux Varois en Provence, there are many various soils and sub-soils, microclimates and altitudes, resulting in rosé wines that have unique flavour profiles and nuances. There are differences in colour, not only due to grape variety and length of maceration, but also due to location and terroir. The research team at the Centre du Rosé tells us they have discovered that wines have a yellower hue if they come from by the sea and a pinker hue if they come from the mountains, regardless of grape variety. The special volcanic soils in Fréjus at Château du Rouët provide a flinty, mineral taste and the clay and schist of Château Léoube helps to retain a bright purity of fruit. The wines are so varied that Philippe Bru from Château Vignelaure believes that restaurant wine lists should have a whole section “dedicated to the rosé wines of Provence, just as you have a Champagne section”.

After tasting wines from 17 different wineries across the three appellations and sub-appellations, the breadth of styles is strikingly evident. Each vineyard is influenced by something distinct, like Mont Sainte-Victoire at Domaine des Diables and Château Ferry Lacombe or the Mediterranean Sea at Château Léoube. 80 per cent of Château de l’Escarelle’s estate is a 300 year old forest, with the scent of pine trees and resinous herbs making its way into the wines. Jean-Paul Neu, the operations manager at Château du Rouët, says: “It is up to the winemaker to translate the potential of the terroir.”

Some wines are light, crisp and citrus, like Mirabeau Pure; some are aromatic, floral and peachy, like GC 2020 from Le Grand Cros; some are savoury and gastronomic, like the Château du Rouët Fréjus. There are rosés aged in oak, like Domaine des Diables Rosé des Bois and Estandon Ceux de 1906, which are smoky, spicy, layered and complex. My tasting notes from the trip ranged from “fleshy white peach”, “strawberry yoghurt”, “hedgerow fruits” and “rosehip”, to “orange pith”, “tangerine peel”, “caramel” and “vanilla”.

Château de l’Escarelle

At dinner one night, Philippe Bru talked about “the evolution of rosé”. He assessed that it used to be thought of as a “woman’s wine”, then the “brosé” movement happened, as more men started drinking pink. Rosé then became known as “the summer wine” for everybody. But producers in Provence are railing against rosé being known as simply a “poolside beverage”; it is much more than that. In a conversation with Julian Faulkner at his Grand Cros estate, we discussed how rosé has been “dumbed down” for too long. Julian explains: “It’s not just a poolside beverage. We want rosé to be elevated to a serious wine and to start exploring its ageing potential.”

Perhaps rosé’s next evolution will be as a gastronomic wine. During my time in Provence, it was proven over and over again that rosé from Provence is a food wine, precisely because there are many diverse styles for a huge array of dishes. Tandoori chicken with sweet potato crisps went with Château Saint-Maur l’Excellence, an intense and generous rosé with exotic notes of mango and guava. Greek-style chargrilled octopus was perfectly paired with the fresh yet creamy Estandon Légende and slow-cooked wild boar in a tomato stew matched beautifully with Terres de Ravel Château Montaud, a precise and elegant wine, which possesses a long and persistent finish. 

The joy of good rosé is that it is versatile and there is always the option to not overthink it. After all, this is Provence and the lifestyle tells us to relax!

From my time in Provence, I learned that the “joie-de-vivre” notion is genuine. It might be a dream sold to us in sunny images of beautifully-set Provençale dinner tables and sandy beaches, but it’s truly like that and it’s something you feel when you’re there. My bones did relax, as I looked out to sea from the highest point of the Léoube estate and when I enjoyed a long lunch on the terrace at Mirabeau, gazing out onto the vineyards. But, even though our minds become awash with glistening salmon pink, nautical stripes and swimming pools when we hear the word “Provence”, there is more to Provence wines than you might think. The colour might be pale, but these wines have depth.