Côtes de Provence

February 6, 2016 11

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
It’s a Family Affair

It isn’t often – at least, I don’t think it is – that I get to taste a premier vintage from a vineyard. But that is exactly what I did this week. It's a new wine from a debut vineyard, yet created by a family that is a leading producer of some of Provence's best rosés. It is a joint effort by Château la Tour de l’Évêque (Régine Sumeire) and [...]

January 17, 2016 8

CLOS DE L’OURS: A CONVERSATION WITH CO-OWNER MICHEL BROTONS

Barely three years old, this winery was recently included in “Les domaines incontournable en Provence” in [...]

December 14, 2015 4

INVITE SOME ROSÉS TO DINNER THIS HOLIDAY

Last May, I had the great pleasure of attending the biannual “Tasting Supper” at Blantyre, the luxurious Tudor-style manor tucked into 117 forested acres of the Berkshires, in Lenox, Massachusetts. Part of the posh Relais & Châteaux collection of luxury properties, it’s not surprising that our seven-course meal was exquisite in every way. (Proprietor Ann Fitzpatrick Brown would not have it any other way.) It is etched into my memory for the beautifully prepared [...]

November 16, 2015 5

CHASING CHÂTEAU LÉOUBE’S ‘’SUPER ROSÉ’’

“Fini,” Jérôme Pernot, Sales and Marketing Director at Château Léoube, told photographer Pamela O’Neill and me during a recent visit to the Château. “I don’t even have one bottle left,” he said. “Well, except for a few bottles in the owners’ private cellar [...]

October 17, 2015 50

THE PASTAGA OF LÉOUBE

In August of last year, Château Léoube’s Secret de Léoube was given a shout by Drinks Magazine, having placed in the gold medal tier of their 2014 Global Rosé Masters wine tasting competition with such local Provence favorites as Château d’Esclans and Mirabeau en Provence. Embarrassingly enough, having lived only an hour away for years, I had been blissfully ignorant of this domain. As Provence [...]

October 10, 2015 4

COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE

It’s all about skin contact. Well, almost.

Minimal skin contact is the simplest explanation for the beautiful pale colors of the world’s most popular rosés. Of course I am referring to rosés from Provence, where pink wine has been made for over 2600 years, giving winemakers there ample time to perfect their rosé [...]

October 3, 2015 4

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
Jumping to Conclusions

I did it. I jumped to a conclusion. I made an assumption. And I was wrong. I have been eating lobster most of my adult life, and as far back as I can remember, Viogniers were among the wines of choice to pair with lobster. I assumed that was a good idea when I made Lobster Thermidor, as I had a lovely Viognier from [...]

August 24, 2015 15

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ROSÉS

It's been a long hot summer, at least where I've been hanging my hat. I was in Provence for the hottest July on record, returned to New England where heat and humidity dominated many summer days, ditto for my visits to New York--in August what else would I expect?-- and [...]

July 4, 2015 5

Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food
On the Marc

Unless you are headed to France, or know someone who brought back a bottle (that was my method!), you probably won't be sipping Domaines Ott's Vieux Marc Rosé. Sadly, it is not imported to the United States! I paired this vieux marc, made from the skins of grapes used to make rosé, with a really old-fashioned dessert: Crêpes Suzette. Although my recipe is toned down in its buttery sweetness, it still requires something special for pairing. [...]

May 17, 2015 18

MARC: A SPIRIT FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE IT ROUGH

Marc (pronounced mahr and rhymes with car, like one a Bostonian would park) is not for everyone. Perhaps it is not even for most people, which works well—keeping the universe in balance—as the production of this spirit is so small that most of it never leaves the immediate area where it is produced. I happen to be an enthousiaste passionnée about this style of pomace brandy (that others would just as soon relegate to moonshine) [...]

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