Uncorked: Côtes du Rhône Rosé

Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time to pop open a bottle of Guigal Côtes du Rhône Rosé from France’s Rhone Valley.

An excellent example of the French region, it’s a serious rosé wine that is still approachable for everyday enjoyment, and sure to please the palates of those who are discovering the wine this rosé season. Produced in the traditional saignée method from a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah, this structured, dry rosé is bursting with red fruit flavors and aromas, like raspberry and red currant, and balanced with an intriguing minerality on the finish. It pairs beautifully with a great variety of summer foods and is an excellent value at $14.99, available nationwide.

Cheers!

Guigal Côtes du Rhône 2016 Rosé

SRP: $14.99

WINE

The Guigal family has made serious rosé wines since the 1940s. Their Côtes du Rhône Rosé, like all their Côtes du Rhône wines, is humble in name only. The grapes are specifically grown to make superior rosé wines, and they vinify the grapes in a serious manner. This rosé is not a byproduct of a red wine, and it is not made to achieve a specific color. It is full of flavor, texture, and structure, with an almost radiant color, and is bursting with red fruits, an underlying strong minerality, and the constitution for year-long drinking.

VINEYARD

The soil is alluvial clay-limestone and gravel, and the average age of the vines is 25 years. The blend is made up of Grenache (70%), Cinsault (20%), Syrah (10%). Yields are low, around 2.3 tons per acre. All in all, fairly remarkable for a rosé at this price point.

VINIFICATION

The wine is drawn off the skins (the saigneé method) after a brief maceration and long temperature controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks.

TASTING NOTES

The 2016 has a wonderful fresh nose of red fruits – raspberry and redcurrant – and citrus. The fruit persists on the palate, in a wonderfully fine and round structure. The balance, complexity and refinement give the wine an overall sense of elegance.