2018 Domaine Julie Benau Rosé

Region: Picpoul de Pinet < Languedoc < France

Grapes:Carignan, Cinsault, a bit of Syrah

Vineyard/Cellar Stats:Organic farming, sand/limestone soil with lots of fossils; ‘saignee’ (means ‘bleeding’ in French) method for making rosé as a by-product of red wine fermentation -- a portion of the pink juice from the grape must is removed at an early stage and fermented separately; bottled unfined/unfiltered with minimal added SO2 at bottling only; 13% ABV

Winemaker: Julie Benau

 LADY IN CHARGE: Julie not only took over her family’s Languedoc estate, but has made a name for herself with her envelope-pushing, often experimental, and always super low-intervention (zero-zero) wines -- an anomaly in this big, industrial region, where vineyards grow along the lagoons that are home to zillions of oyster beds. 

Another wine from the Languedoc’s wine goddess, Julie Benau, this time a juicy rosé! But first, a refresher on Julie’s story: The 16th century farmhouse estate in the Languedoc’s coastal backwoods was purchased by Julie's parents in 1980. At first, they sold all their grape production to the local co-op, but when daughter Julie came back home in 1999, she took charge and started making natural wine from the estate fruit.  She focuses mostly on Picpoul, the area’s big grape, but makes a little bit of this vibrant, fruity, salty rosé that’ll take you through these last sunny days and well into fall.