What I’m drinking now – 2010 Ch. Leoube rose
Summer 2010 is over. Wait, did we even have a summer this year here in soggy England? Whether or not we had a proper summer, there’s always hope that we’ll have an Indian summer. Indian summer. The two words always remind me of N. American Indian moccasin-clad feet and sunny forest lakes (I know, I’m being literal but that’s the kind of person I can be sometimes).
I suppose the best one can hope for in an Indian summer is that the temperature doesn’t plummet overnight and the sun comes out to play among the autumnal leaves falling to the ground. So, what to drink? Is it time to put away the whites? Time to bring out the big guns – the reds? It’s a tricky time of year (wine-wise) but I got a pale salmon-hued rosé the other day from the South of France that just might be the answer to what to drink for an Indian summer.
Ch. Leoube is from the region of Provence but is owned by the English founders of Daylesford Organic, although they do have a French winemaker, Romain Ott. I don’t know how organic they are in the vineyards but I’m guessing they’re not spraying the place down with pesticides. The vineyard is in Cap Bénat, in a coastal cove and has clay and schist soils which give the wine a soupçon of minerality. Côtes de Provence is known for their rosés and rightly so. Nowhere else do you get such delicately coloured wines, almost orangish-pink in colour, not so dark that they could be confused for a Beaujolais or even a red Burgundy like some (*cough* New World) rosés nor bursting with lots of ripe red fruits, they are delicate and clean wines, creamy but still retaining a zing of acidity, the echo of starfruit and red berry flavours on the palate followed by a spiced note on the way down. A perfect aperitif or perhaps something to go with a light lunch or dinner, at 12.5% alcohol there’s no danger of falling asleep afterwards.
I’m a sucker for these Provençal roses, there’s nothing provincial about them! The 2010 Rosé de Léoube (60% grenache/40% cinsault) is now available in the UK from Daylesford Organic and Corney & Barrow, suggested retail price £13.99. Santé!
You will be pleased to know I’m getting into the Australian Rosé 🙂 I’m really impressed how far Aussie wines have come over the last 10 years. When are you coming to try some?