I am no expert in rose. Unfortunately, I rarely drink it but my next door neighbor loves it. I want to do something special for her.
I went to Costco and looked at a few other places and they have Miraval and some others that look just “ok”. Some Cotes de Provence that look again"ok".
If I want something special. What would you suggest?
I have tried Terrabrune a Bandol and Tempier a Bandol. I love them. I love Tavel. The producers escape me.
Let me know your thoughts.
I don’t really want to just buy a bottle of Domaine Ott for her. I think there are much better examples of great rose.
Tempier and Terrabrune are both excellent, well known Bandol roses. Some others to consider…you’ll probably need to head to your local wine shop for these, or order online:
Bedrock Ode to Lulu Rose (Bandol-style blend from California)
Sinskey Vin Gris (CA Pinot Noir)
Arnot Roberts Vin Gris (CA Touriga Nacionale)
Terre Nere Etna Rosato (Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio from Mt. Etna in Sicily)
Ameztoi Rubentis (Txakolina from Spain, gently spritzy, very refreshing)
Clos Cibonne Tibouren Cotes de Provence (Bit of a geekier, more rustic provencal rose; more saline and savory than Tempier or Terrabrune)
I could go on, but these are all well-made, somewhat unique roses from all over the world and are typically $35 or less if you can find them. Good luck.
Domaine Marquiliani from Corsica. They make two, Marquiliani Rose and Rose de Pauline. Both are excellent and great values and we like each of them (last summer we went through four cases). If pushed, my preference is Rose de Pauline; it is weightless and has very little color. Great stuff.
How much are you looking to spend and which state are you located in? This can help the rest of the WB board narrow down some options for you that you’ll be able to order
BTW re: other posts, I love rose from Getaria. My favorite is Txomin Etxaniz. That is just splitting hairs. The roses from Getaria are FIRST RATE. Thanks for the memory.
Price no object, the clos des lambrays rose du clos with min 5 years bottle age is fantastic. 2nd up would be francois cotat’s rose, again ideally with at least a few years bottle age. These two were acclaimed by everyone that evening in a line up that had all the usual rose “big guns” (tempier, lopez de heredia, pycm etc etc). A great value was the Loggerenberg “Break a Leg” Rosé from south africa.
Recently, I’ve enjoyed Rock Angel a fair bit. In a different league from Whispering Angel.
Don, Baudry’s Chinon Rosé is normally excellent. Dirty and Rowdy’s 2020 Brosseau Vineyard Syrah was pretty delicious recently as well. My favorite rosé may be L’Anglore Tavel, but it is hard to find.
My years in retail taught me that most drinkers of pink wine want something fairly light and refreshing, that isn’t challenging in any way. Unless your neighbor is a wine nerd (I’m guessing not since you didn’t say so), I would not go with any Txakolina, Clos Cibonne, Baudry (as much as I love the Baudry myself), or really anything domestic. Despite the pop culture connection, Miraval is actually very good, and is the style I see as most popular. Also, Commanderie de Peyrassol is one of the best options, IMO, in the style most rosé drinkers love. I could see a lighter style from Corsica fitting the bill, but for ease of finding something, I’d probably stick with Côtes de Provence or a Pinot Noir from the Loire (Sancerre Rosé or otherwise). Or, if you can find Gobelsburg, that’s a great option. Super refreshing. That was our best selling rosé for multiple summers at the store where I worked, which is really noteworthy for something from Austria (bottle shape and German-sounding name do not help).
‘splaining a little about my thought process with this suggestion. . .
Don, you wrote “ I want to do something special for her.” And you’ve focused on getting a really good bottle of rose for her since you know she likes rose. The challenge is coming up with a bottle that she will enjoy drinking AND also realize that it is “special”. Almost impossible to guarantee that a bottle will be enjoyed by anyone including ourselves at times. Though I am sure your neighbor will appreciate your gift and consider it special regardless, Champagne loudly announces “hey, I’m special” to most people. And picking a Rosé Champagne also shows how thoughtful you are in remembering that your neighbor likes rose wine. What a nice guy you are, Don!
