2024 Clos Cibonne, Tibouren, Cuvée Tradition Rosé, Cru Classe, Côtes de Provence AOP, France.
I was lucky enough to be at a special guest chef dinner, with Chef Julia Sullivan of Judith, at the famous Bell’s Los Alamos, which was absolutely amazing, and it all started for our table with the glorious 2024 Clos Cibonne Rosé, a favorite of mine and one of the world’s best wines! This vintage is vinous and complex in the glass with a coppery rose/gold hue and a mineral toned medium bodied palate with classic burnt orange, strawberry, sour cherry and dried apricot fruits, along with plenty of saline infused wet stone, leesy nuttiness, a hint of sage tea, seeped rose petal and sultry earthiness. The Clos Cibonne Cru Classe Tradition Rosé, with its unique (raised under) Flor character, delicate bone dry fruit and textured quality, always remains wonderfully fresh and mineral toned. Made from mostly all Tibouren, a rare and ancient varietal, this Provence Rosé doesn’t taste like anything else and has become an iconic wine, it is very different from the mainstream of modern French Rosé bottlings. As noted before, this Tibouren Cotes de Provence Cru Class AOP bottling by Clos Cibonne, but it is anything but basic, with 90% Tibouren grapes, plus about 10% Grenache, being fermented in stainless steel and then aged Sur Lie under fleurette (a thin veil of yeast “Flor” that is like what is found in Sherry) in 120-year-old, 5,000L foudres, large oak casks which adds that touch of oxidation, as well as a textured mouth feel and stabilizes the wine allow it to age way beyond what a normal Rosé. Normally I suggest having the Clos Cibonne with a a full meal, as it has a more serious gastronomical depth, but especially, it goes great with sea food stews and or mussels in spicy broth. That said, Chef Julia’s menu at her guest appearance at Bell’s, included dishes likeGrassy Bar Oyster with Regils Ova Caviar and Green Tomato Relish, Vermillion Rockfish Crudo with Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, Citrus and Coconut, and Henrietta Red Naan with Stepladder Butter and Cantabrian Anchovies, all of which this Clos Cibonne lifted to the heavens!
The Tibouren grape, or Rossese di Dolceacqua (as it is called in Italy), as I’ve mentioned in prior reviews, is mainly known as a red French variety that is primarily grown in Provence and in Liguria, on the Italian Riviera, but as mentioned here before, most likely it originated in Greece and brought here in ancient times. The Clos Cibonne vines, goblet-trained Tibouren, are organically grown on schist soils from parcels as old as 60 years old vines at just 50 meters above sea level. The winery notes that Tibouren is a very fine, thin-skinned grape which requires a lot of ventilation to be successful, adding that it needs to grow close to the ocean, with lots of ventilation to be successful, which Clos Cibonne provides along with a constant Mistral wind and air flow blowing through the vines here on the blue Mediterranean Sea. Fifth-generation winemaker Olivier Deforges is both vineyard manager and winemaker here at Clos Cibonne and has even taken the estate to new heights of quality. Olivier, as the winery explains, has focused most his energy on the impeccable viticulture done here, after transitioning to all organic viticulture over the last decade, they are now officially certified organic since this 2019 vintage. Clos Cibonne, owned by Bridget Roux and her husband, Claude Deforge, is only about 800 meters from the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea, set in a natural amphitheater that allows for wonderful ripening and with a unique constant air flow through the vines that keeps all the clusters wonderfully healthy. Like many Provence wineries, after Phylloxera, as planted mostly to Mourvedre as many historic grapes were almost forgotten, but Bridget’s grandfather André Roux, who ran the estate back from the 1930s to after WWII, is credited with resurrecting Tibouren and even got it Cru Classe status and he was instrumental in allowing the grape’s name to be on the label, as it is today. In recent times, we’ve seen a huge interest in dry Rosé with the market place loaded with fine examples, but very few intrigue us wine geeks in the way that Clos Cibonne does. These days demand and tariffs have seen the price rise for Clos Cibonne, but it still is worth every penny and I can’t imagine a Summer without it!
($44 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive