When it comes to wining and dining at home, we love to get inspired from some of the amazing producers around the world. So when Faulkner Wines gave us a low down on the latest from rosés with their top four tipples.
Traditionally regarded as purely a summer drink, such is the popularity of rosé that it is now consumed 12 months of the year.
That said, there is something very special about enjoying a glass of chilled rosé as the sun sets and the heat of the day disperses.
Here we present a quartet of the very finest, produced and bottled on Julian Faulkner’s family estate in the Côtes de Provence, the spiritual home of rosé.
Julian Faulkner has a passion: to offer customers wines of stature and repute, but also with the ideal price-quality ratio. This selection appeals to a variety of palates and budgets, comprising three from the estate’s complex and aromatic Le Grand Cros range and one from the multi award-winning Jules collection which offers lighter, more keenly priced vintages for everyday drinking.
Aurélia 2019, £28.95
Originally launched with a 2015 vintage named in honour of his eldest child, Aurélia was created to showcase the very best of the terroir at Le Grand Cros and to offer discerning drinkers a fuller-bodied, more structured and altogether more serious take on the region’s classically light rosé.
Created using grapes hand-harvested in September, Aurélia 2019 spent eight months on lees and partially in oak, allowing it to develop a creamier texture and greater complexity.
It can be enjoyed with almost any food and at any time of the year.
Available from boutique company Asset Wines priced at £28.95 a bottle, it can also be purchased directly from the Faulkner Wines website.
Le Grand Cros L’Esprit de Provence AOP Côtes de Provence 2019, £16.90
Dry, fruity and elegant, this rosé has been the recipient of numerous accolades: only rosé in Decanter’s 50 Best Wines of the Year in 2015 and the 2019 Best Rosé of the Competition by the Œnologues de France among them.
With notes of white peaches, mango, hawthorn blossom, pink peppercorn, dry apricot and thyme, this rosé is complex with a delightful, long lingering aftertaste.
L’Esprit de Provence can be paired with sushi, ceviche, salads, pasta with clams, fish soup and gazpacho.
Available from boutique company Asset Wines, it can also be purchased directly from the Faulkner Wines website.
Le Grand Cros AOP Côtes de Provence 2019, £14.50
Fragrant with aromas of freshly crushed berries and exotic fruits, a hint of mango lends a touch of richness to the fresh, round palate, with some herbal notes in the mix and a creamy note adding extra elegance with plenty of freshness on the finish.
This exquisite wine pairs perfectly with grilled fish and chicken, salads, fish soup, crab roll and gazpacho.
This rosé is available from ten stockists listed on www.grandcros.com/how-to-buy/find-a-retailer/. It can also be purchased directly from the Faulkner Wines website.
Jules AOP Côtes de Provence 2019, £10.38
This superb value rosé makes a superb accompaniment to Provencal dishes and vegetables stews.
The nose is enticing and complex with intense aromas of lychee, pomelo and ripe white peaches and a citrus zest on the finish.
Available from Cambridge Wine Merchants (www.cambridgewine.com) and from the Faulkner Wines website.
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