Famille Negrel Rose de Provence 2010, France
Having just returned from Provence where I caught up with the Famille Negrel it is nice to be able to recommend one of their wines. The roses of Provence tend to be some of the palest, purest and most vinous examples. Unlike the strawberries and cream flavour of some rose wines they tend to be very dry, lightly spicy and taut from start to finish. This opens with notes of dry reducrrant and cranberry fruit, with lemon peel notes too. On the palate it has plenty of acidity that is quite mineral, but has the character of raspberry and lemon too, though it is not without fruit ripeness on the mid-palate. November may seem like an odd time to recommend a wine that we think of as the ultimate summertime style, but I picked up some interesting food-matching ideas in Provence too that proved to me that these are versatile food wines given half a chance – there are suggestions in the video. 9.99, Majestic.