2015 Château Pigoudet Rosé Première Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence

Region: Provence < France
Grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming, chalky limestone soil, 60ppm SO2 at bottling

Those lovely, inexpensive summer rosés that go down like water? Most are industrial products, with conventional farming, high sulfur levels and who knows what else. Not this one. Super clean, from a smaller, family-owned estate. They’re practicing organic farming, fermenting with native yeasts only, and adding a small amount of sulfur at bottling. A gorgeous, textbook Provencal rosé – light salmon in color, almost ethereal in body, with an appealing cantaloupe/sweet summer melon thing and a refreshing salinity. An immensely seductive wine, the kind you would be drinking on beach chair in St. Tropez, served by an attentive cabana boy…