Château d’Esclans, Whispering Angel Rosé 2023
Provence, France, Dry Rosé, Cork, 13.0% abv(2024) 'Tall poppy syndrome' refers to the tendency for some people to cut successful entities 'down to size'. There's no doubt that the mega-brand of Whispering Angel suffers from that; some commentators claiming it is over-priced and intrinsically 'nothing special.' Having tasted the wine vintage after vintage for most of its 18 year history, I disagree and the 2023 is as good, if not better, than ever. Blended from old vine Grenache, Cinsault and Rolle, it's made in stainless-steel with lees-stirring. The peachy-pink colour heralds such an attractive nose, with watermelon and small red berries, passion fruit and downy peach skins. Dry but delightfully peachy and fresh, a hint of strawberry and then confit lemon is buoyant and rounded. That texture and fruit is extended by perfectly balanced acidity. Watch the video for more information.
Good call Tom
Last evening we had the current release of M Minuty which is our usual go to…it was at best Meh!
Perhaps we need to set aside the familiarity and give WA another spin.
Cheers Ray. There are quite a few roses in the £15 – £20 ballpark that have something about them that just lifts them above an awful lot of the lookalike wines in the £9 – £12 range. My report first week of June will have around 40 rose wines reviewed, and althought Whispering Angel isn’t the top scorer, it’s in the top 20% for sure.
Well
There has been a little showing of the sun here so we secured a pack of WA and await your annual roundup before getting too carried away.
For context if the Sun is out a pack is a weeks worth!
OK, six days from now I’d like a report on bottles 1 to 6 Ray 🙂 Hope you enjoy them.