Product Review
APPEARANCE: Glossy peony-pink
NOSE: Red berry fruit, blackberries
PALATE: Rich and rounded, little acidity; fruity flavours, developing a hint of spice
SERVE WITH
Rabbit cooked with olives, rack of lamb with herbs de Provence, fillet of red mullet
TYPICITY
Cabernet Sauvignon is not widely used in Provence, especially in rosés, but this late-ripening variety delivers freshness, acidity and red berry flavours. Syrah adds a lovely pink colour with a discreet glimmer of blue, and excellent, fruit-led aromatic complexity. What makes Commanderie de la Bargemone rosé stand out from the crowd though, is its use of Counoise. This is an oldish variety which fell into obscurity for a while, but is now used in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’ve also re-introduced it into La Bargemone’s plantings. It’s a late-ripening grape with little depth of colour, but shows a broad range of flavours including spices and florals.
Old-vine Carignan grapes, fully ripened on infertile soils in a warm summer, produce by far the best Carignan wine. The key here is that yields have been restricted and there is enough ripe fruit character to mask the naturally high tannins and acidity.
Provence is a sun soaked region in the southeastern corner of France that stretches from the Mediterranean coastline to the southern end of the Rhone valley and across to the border with Italy. The largest area is the Cotes du Provence, where roughly 80% of all wines produced are dry rose, predominantly made from Cinsault and Grenache. A few serious wine producers are replanting vineyards with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in place of the ubiquitous Cinsault. Meanwhile the very small amount of white produced is made from Ugni Blanc and Clairette.
