Awash in a Sea of Pink

Highlights of a recent rosé tasting

Here’s a wine riddle: What wine has lots of different names that all taste the same? Answer: Provençal rosé.

Such was the vinous puzzle that came to mind after I tasted four wines that were virtually indistinguishable from one another. Aside from slightly different labels and varying bottle shapes, the four Provençal pinks that I purchased proved remarkably uniform in color and taste. Indeed, my tasting notes featured the same words on repeat: pale peach to pinkish salmon colored, soft textured with mild aromas of florals and red fruit. It was as if some Provençal winemaker had crafted a winning formula and shared it with his local peers- though the truth behind such uniformity likely owes more to marketing than to winemaker fraternity.

The wines I tasted ranged between $15 and $25 a bottle and included some of the most popular and widely distributed pinks: 2025 Chateau Minuty Prestige Côtes de Provence Rosé ($20); 2025 Chateau Peyrassol Les Commandeurs Côtes de Provence Rosé ($25); 2025 Mas de Cadenet Côtes de Provence Cru Sainte-Victoire Rosé ($18) and 2025 Roseblood d’Estoublon Coteaux de Varois en Provence Rosé ($15). This last wine was packaged in a much more distinctive flagon-like bottle than the other three although its taste profile was very much the same.

While I registered small differences from one wine to another—one wine was a bit lighter, another slightly more aromatic—these distinctions seemed incidental, even irrelevant. They were wines of a certain style and place. They were wines intended to represent an idea of a wine rather than a wine itself and while they were all perfectly acceptable and easy to drink they were completely forgettable by the following day.

After this rather less-than-thrilling endeavor, I decided to buy two other French pinks from another part of France, namely the Loire Valley. Both wines were made by producers whose non-rosé wines are some of my favorite Loire bottlings – red and white - and both were wines I’d definitely buy again.

The 2025 Lauverjat Moulin de Vrillères Sancerre Rosé ($20) proved to be a toothsome bright 100% Pinot Noir wine from one of my favorite producers of well-priced Loire wines. Indeed, the Lauverjat Menetou-Salon is one of my favorite Sancerre-alternative whites (although the Lauverjat Sancerre is very good too).

The 2025 Olga Raffault Chinon Rosé ($24) is a Cabernet Franc from another producer whom I’ve long admired and visited (too) long ago. A big, juicy delight of a drink – bigger and pinker with greater depth of flavor than the rosés of Provence - it was particularly good with a wide range of food.

Two delicious Loire Valley pinks

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Bonus Pink: My last favorite pink isn’t from France but from faraway Australia: the 2025 Alkoomi Rosé ($15) is produced at a family-owned estate in the Frankland River region Western Australia. A Malbec-dominant blend of several red grapes, the Alkoomi (whose name means “a place we chose” in Aboriginal language) may lack the whispery delicacy of a Provence pink and it’s a tad higher in alcohol but it delivers a decidedly delicious Aussie-style punch.

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