Château d’Esclans, Les Clans, Côtes de Provence 2022 (14%)
£48.33-£83.99 Fine Wine Direct, Frazier’s, Millésima, The Wine Reserve Vinatis $50 Morrell Wine, Saratoga Wine Exchange
Our rosé wine entry grows each year (we judged almost 800 dry and medium-dry still pink wines this year), yet the Côtes de Provence archetype still sets the benchmark for style. The category is always tough to judge, since we’re looking for subtlety, nuance, creaminess and drinkability. This year’s Best in Show example has it all. It offers a haunting aromatic profile that mixes cream, white almond, peach and gardenia notes. On the palate, it’s deeper than many of its peers – you could almost say ‘concentrated’ – and perhaps shows brighter acidity than some previous winners. That cream, though, naps and envelops all, and the white almond depth fuses admirably with the wine’s vinosity to provide the dominant structural frame, rather than relying on acidity. Is there even a hint of green olive? Maybe, maybe not; it’s Provence rosé, after all. Hints and whispers are all. Château d’Esclans’ history spans centuries, but its acquisition by Sacha Lichine in 2006 really stepped up its profile. Along with his consulting oenologist Patrick Léon (who passed away in 2018), Lichine revitalised d’Esclans’ land, which lies between St-Tropez and Nice.
‘The terroir is clay based,’ says d’Esclans.
‘On the higher plateaus, a concentration of calcareous soil rests with older vines. Between the geological characteristics of this soil and vines penetrating deeply into the earth, we get grapes infused with minerality.’
Léon’s son Bertrand has been technical director since 2011. A blend of 86% Grenache, 12% Rolle (Vermentino), with a splash of Tibouren, Les Clans is given the kid-glove – and distinctly Burgundian – treatment from the off. Handpicked from roughly 55-year-old vines in the morning, the berries are sorted then softly crushed. Chilled and pressed, the juice is barrel fermented in 600L French oak demi-muids before being aged for 11 months in barrel.