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The World's Most Expensive Rosé Wine

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Can rosé wine ever be a great wine? Château d’Esclans in Provence in southern France believes it can and sells its rosé wines at high prices. But isn’t it somehow contradictory for rosé wine to have this aspiration? Isn’t rosé an unpretentious, easy drinking wine made for fast consumption? Or can it be both?

15% of the Provence estates make ultra-premium rosé today , says Master of Wine Louise Sydbeck who has made a study of this wine segment. And many more are thinking of making one. Nearly all of these prestige rosés were launched after 2006. So it is a fairly new phenomenon. Although some people are sceptics and argue that it is the same wine only in a classier bottle.

It is true that the packaging and the marketing are as important as the colour . When Sacha Lichine, son of famous Alexis Lichine who owned Grand Cru Classé Château Prieuré Lichine in Margaux (Bordeaux), bought Château d’Esclans in Provence a few years ago and announced that he was going to make the world’s best and most expensive rosé wine, he received a lot of media attention. His wines, with A Whispering Angel taking the lead, changed the rosé wine scene in Provence.

And now to the crucial question: Can rosé ever be a great wine?

Rosé wine is made from red grapes but the short period of skin contact means that many of the interesting things in the skins, such as certain flavours and tannins, are not taken advantage of. Of course the very idea of rosé wine is to be an easy drinking, fresh wine. So it is probably difficult to climb up to the category of "great wines". Although some producers try oak aging to get a bit more structure and body in the wine.

Sacha Lichine, however, is doing his best to prove that rosé can reach the high quality sphere. The prices of his wines are between 15 and 80 euros. So as for the price part he has probably succeeded in making the world’s most expensive rosé. And yes, the quality is there also. No wonder.

Garrus from Chateau d'Esclans, Domaines Sacha Lichine (copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine Photography)

The secrets are a wine maker from Château Mouton Rothschild, old vines, a fairly large proportion of white grapes, fermentation in 600-liter oak barrels with individual temperature control and a great attention to quality. But this in itself is not enough. The stylish packaging, the beautiful bottles and the wines’ very pale salmon colour also play a big part in the success of Château d’Esclans.

The top wine "Garrus" is made with the red grape Grenache and the white grape Rolle from 80 year old vines. These are fermented together (blending a red and a white wine is forbidden). The wine is more golden yellow than pink, it has a full-bodied, rich fruity taste. It actually tastes more like a white wine and it looks like a white wine also when you have it in your glass. Well, it is not.

Garrus from Chateau d'Esclans, Domaines Sacha Lichine (copyright Per Karlsson, BKWine Photography)

It is rosé and the world's most expensive one, as they say themselves with pride at the château. For 80 euros a bottle maybe you would savour it with marinated salmon and lobster instead of having it ice cold on an outdoor summer terrace. A great wine among the world’s top prestige wines? Perhaps not. But certainly very good. And it does prove that you shouldn’t jump to any conclusions about the future greatness of rosé wines.

The wines of Château d’Esclans:

Whispering Angel, Côtes de Provence (négociant wine, not from own vines), approx 20 euro, 25 USD

Château d’Esclans, Côtes de Provence, approx 30 euro, 35 USD

Les Clans, Côtes de Provence, approx 50 euro, 65 USD

Garrus, Côtes de Provence, approx. 80 euro, 100 USD

—Britt Karlsson

This is a follow-up to the previous article on rosé wines: Fashionable Pink: Rosé Wine Is Conquering The World.

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