Chateau de Pibarnon to release 'year round' rosé cuvée

Rosé wine

Chateau de Pibarnon is to release a limited edition rosé cuvée aimed at year-round drinking, reflecting a wider trend across Provence to produce upscale rosé wines aimed at a traditional red and white wine audience.

The rosé will be 100% Mouvèdre, made from direct press, aged in a mix of large oak casks and clay amphorae for around three months longer than the usual estate rosé – which is 65% Mourvèdre, 35% Cinsault, and a mix of direct press with 20% Saignée.

All rosés from Chateau Pibarnon, which is owned by Eric de Saint Victor, are entirely hand-picked into small crates.

‘The idea is to do a rosé for autumn and winter, a more gourmet structured year-round rosé’, Saint Victor told decanter.com.

‘Twenty years ago, rosé was sold in August, so given a longer time to gain in structure and weight. Today the trend in Provence is towards getting the new vintage to sale as early as possible, almost as a primeur wine, and we are looking to counter this movement. Mourvèdre always take longer to reveal itself than other grapes, and lends itself to structure and to being paired with food’.

The new wine will be released in September, and the name is yet to be decided.

The production of the classic Pibarnon rosé is 75,000 bottles, while the new cuvée will be 3,000 bottles for the first vintage.

Recent years have seen increasing number of often highly-priced rosés creating a new category that continues to expand.

Chateau Miraval from the Perrin-Jolie-Pitt partnership now includes grapes sourced from outside the domaine to respond to the demand for its wine, while the Roederer group has recently purchased two addition chateaux within its Domaines Ott subsidiary; Domaine de l’Hermitage in Bandol and Chateau la Moutète in AOC Côtes de Provence.

The Sacha Lichine-owned Chateau D’Esclans in Côtes de Provence has also rebranded its estate wine Rock Angel from the 2014 vintage to capitalise on the huge success of its Whispering Angel entry-level cuvée.