La Solitude Cotes du Rhone Rosé 2022

fresh strawberries, fresh damson plums, fresh cut rhubarb and dried straw

The Lançon family have been producing wine in the Rhône Valley for 8 generations that stretches to the late 17th century. Their winery is located in La Crau, near Vieux Telegraph, Mont Olivet and Chateau La Nerthe. For their Châteauneuf-du-Pape bottlings they only use estate grapes from their nearly 100 acres of vineyards. For the Côtes du Rhônes they also have long term contracts with 5 nearby growers. You will notice that the Rosé carries the Demeter Certification designating biodynamic farming. The red is also farmed using biodynamic practices but one of the growers is not yet certified.

While Côtes du Rhône Rosé is less well known as a category than their neighbors in Provence, they can be really enjoyable. The region is warmer than Provence so they tend to have more texture but not at the expense of balance. Serve this wine chilled but splash it into a decanter to let the bouquet develop. Then the nose pops with lovely notes of fresh strawberries, fresh damson plums, fresh cut rhubarb and dried straw. On the palate this wine has good richness, with more length than you find in Provence examples making it quite good with food. Try with fried catfish, chicken Shawarma or curried lentils with spinach.