Château Galoupet 2023

A blend of Grenache, Tibouren, Syrah, Rolle, Cinsault and Sémillon in unknown proportions, the 2023 Cotes de Provence Rose from Chateau du Galoupet reveals a delicate, elegantly smoky bouquet of grapefruit, red berries, peach and iodine. Medium-bodied and juicy, enveloping and round, it’s perfectly balanced with a delicate core of fruit that transitions into a fresh, iodine-tinged and long finish. This rosé typically benefits from 2 or 3 years of cellaring to reach its full potential.

Pale salmon pink. This is still very youthful, with delicate aromas of peach and redcurrant. On the palate, the intense, concentrated fruit of the hot, dry vintage dominates the wine and has allowed Galoupet’s estate director, Mathieu Meyer, to increase the amount of oak used to balance and enhance the fruit profile, making this wine much more structured than the 2022. The bittersweet acidity of pink grapefruit, firm, dry phenolics, concentrated dark berries and minerality make this more of a gastronomic rosé than a simple quaffing wine, and one that reflects the schistous terroir. Still a little gawky, this needs a few more months for the different elements to come together, indicating good ageing potential.

Behind a beautiful copper hue, which lends it the poise of a Sicilian Count, the nose transports you to an oriental market, with aromas of pomegranate skin, ripe fruit, musk and faded flowers, then on the palate a bright, juicy fruit profile, and notes of fresh herbs that keep it from any heaviness.