2021 Chateau Des Ferrages Cotes De Provence Rose Cuvee

2021 Chateau Des Ferrages Cotes De Provence Rose Cuvee

2021 Chateau Des Ferrages Cotes De Provence Rose Cuvee Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah. This is an interesting 2021 rosé. It is refreshing like it should be with vibrant acidity. It has a mineral-driven palate and smells like strawberries. But as it opens a savory note pops up, bringing a little depth to the party. It’s a great pink to chill and sip with a sunset.

Cotes De Provence

The Côtes de Provence wines draw their strength of character from a sun-drenched land at the foothills of the Sainte-Victoire Mountain. Halfway between Aix-en-Provence and Saint-Maximin, Château des Ferrages is one of the four fortresses that shaped the history of Pourcieux. Surrounded by wooded parklands, this traditional Renaissance building overlooked the village. Most of the building has been lost over time and only the tower and a few architectural remains still exist today. Its most valuable treasure, however, is undoubtedly the wine domaine that bears its name. Its 28 hectares of vines produce four cuvées that are carefully aged in the Château des Ferrages cellars. These cellars combine modern vinification techniques and traditional methods of ageing.

Rosé

A rosé (from French, rosé [ʁoze]) is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. The pink color can range from a pale “”onion-skin”” orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grape varieties used and winemaking techniques. Usually, the wine is labelled rosé in French, Portuguese, and English-speaking countries, rosado in Spanish, or rosato in Italian.

There are three major ways to produce rosé wine: skin contact, saignée, and blending. Rosé wines can be made still, semi-sparkling or sparkling and with a wide range of sweetness levels from highly dry Provençal rosé to sweet White Zinfandels and blushes. Rosé wines are made from a wide variety of grapes and can be found all around the globe.

When rosé wine is the primary product, it is produced with the skin contact method. Black-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period, typically two to twenty hours. The grape is then pressed and the skins discarded, rather than left in contact throughout fermentation (as with red wine making). The longer the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine.

When a winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to red wine, some of the pink juice from the must can be removed at an early stage in what is known as the Saignée (from French bleeding) method. The red wine remaining in the vats is intensified as a result of the bleeding, because the volume of juice in the must is reduced, and the must involve in the maceration becomes more concentrated. The pink juice that is removed can be fermented separately to produce rosé.

The simple mixing of red wine into white wine to impart color is uncommon and is discouraged in most wine growing regions, especially in France, where it is forbidden by law, except for Champagne. Even in Champagne, several high-end producers do not use this method but rather the saignée method.