Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food

Beauty and the Beast

Winery: Château La Tour de l’Evêque
Cuvée: Sainte-Anne
Appellation: Côtes de Provence
Type: Rosé
Vintage: 2025
Grape Varieties: 46% Cinsault, 34% Grenache, 12% Mourvèdre, 4% Syrah, 2% Rolle, 2% Sémillon.
Alcohol content: 13%
Average Retail Price: U.S. $22

Beauty? She’s a truly lovely rosé robed in pink silk seeking her prince. The Beast? He’s barbecued ribs, not at all concerned with his gruffness and smoky finish. But together they make a beautiful pair — have you not read the fairy tale or at least seen the Disney movie? Happy endings are what it’s all about. Today’s story is more like the Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell story Overboard where the super rich, beautiful woman falls in love with the rugged-yet-handsome handyman. Still a very happy ending.

Enter (again) Château La Tour de L’Evêque. I have written about their wines several times on the Provence WineZine: La Source Gabriel, Pétale de Rose (both rosé wines), and Rouge Cuvée Classique. Each has been particularly good and now I found a cuvée locally — another rosé — that I hadn’t tried. And, as suggested, I paired the wine with my Barbecue Ribs. You can get the recipe on Cocoa & Lavender.

Sainte-Anne is a particularly lovely rosé — no pale pink wilting flower is she. Her color is appropriately bold and reminiscent of the blush on an apricot. A bright, rich nose of strawberry with notes of peach and pear. On the palate, the most prevalent flavor was that of wild strawberries, with subtle notes of tangerine, Cavaillon melon, and frangipane. The wine has a creamy, soft mouthfeel — very pleasant on the palate. There is an elegant long finish of ripe melon and white peach.

Without having had excellent counsel from Susan, I might never have paired a rosé with barbecued ribs. But, honestly, the pairing was fabulous — the wine and pork had an incredible synergy that caught me off guard.

When I purchased this wine several weeks ago, it was on sale for the very nice price of $18.00 a bottle; I am heading back to the store tomorrow to check and see if the sale is still on. (Don’t tell them, but I would buy it at full price.)