A Month in Provence - TonghamTaster’s French Wine Tasting Course – week 23

The 12 month on-line course to help you learn about French wines - Top tips on how to get value when buying them - Reasonably priced up-to-date recommendations of what to buy and try in the UK - Bringing you the best of Tongham Village Hall wine tastings.

INTRODUCTION
This week start our month in Provence. The well known rosés are our first port of call. Most of us must have tried them but how many of us know much about them? All of the Provence appellations make rosés but we will leave those of Bandol, Bellet, Cassis and Palette until the end of the month.

LOCALITY
Provence is in the South of France on the Mediterranean Coast. The wine area stretches from Nice in the east to Arles in the west. In the north it touches on to the Rhone Valley appellations. The region of course is very sunny with little rain but it does suffer from the famous Mistral wind.

VARIETALS
Perhaps once of the main reasons that few of us could name the grape varieties in a Provence rosé is that we don’t care – these are fun carefree wines, not serious wines for connoisseurs. The other reason is that they contain too many varietals to remember.
In the pink wines of Provence the main grapes are normally the common southern red grape varietals of Grenaches, Carignan, Cinsault, Syrah and Mouvedre. In some appellations you may also find Cabernet Sauvignon. However, there are many other permitted and used varietals, some relatively unknown outside the area and others imported from close by in Italy.

THE WINES

Just €3 in France and rather nice!

The largest appellation is that of Cotes de Provence. Over 75% of this appellation is the famous pink rosé wines. Much, but not all of it, is sold in the distinctive skittle shaped bottle. The wines vary from the relatively tasteless drink to be consumed without too much thought on a hot summer’s day to more serious rosés that some growers are now trying to produce. Colours also vary from a very pale pink hue to something much darker, sometimes with a copper colour. The style is normally dry.
Similar wines come from Coteaux d’Aix en Provence. The Coteaux de Pierrevert is one of the more inland appellations and its rosé tend to be very pale and light. Other AOC names you might see are Les Baux de Provence and Coteaux Varois.
These wines are for drinking young and very chilled.
Being made in the fashionable area of the South of France, and with the current exchange rate, these rosé wines do not often offer much value for money. I tend to buy mine in French supermarkets where you can still find something drinkable for three Euros whereas in the UK you will pay over six Pounds.

THE TASTE
Most of the wines are dry and gentle with a perfumed nose and just enough fruity taste to make them worth drinking. The fruity tastes are often of strawberry.

TOP TIPS
• Buy these wines during a trip to France rather than in the UK. On wines of this price the duty makes a big difference and the French are less willing to pay a big price for ordinary wines like this.

Not very good value at well over £6

HOMEWORK
For your homework this week buy and try one of this week’s Provence rosé wines, which may include one of the following:
.
Majestic -Château Saint Roch-les-Vignes 2009/2010 Côtes de Provence – about £7
Waitrose - Château de Fontlade, Aurelia Primae Rosé 2009 Coteaux Varois en Provence – about £8.
Waitrose - Esprit de Buganay Rosé 2010 Côtes de Provence – about £9
Majestic- Château Pigoudet 'La Chapelle' Rosé 2010 Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence – about £9

FOOD PAIRINGS

These wines go well with the garlic and olive oil cuisine of Provence. They are also good with much seafood and fish dishes – why not try with a Bouillabaisse. Finally, these are wines just for quaffing on their own or at a BBQ.

COMING SOON
Next week we cover the surprisingly good but less well known red wines of Provence. If you missed the early weeks of this course, it is not too late to catch up. Just click on the French Wine Course link at the top of this page.