2025 Domaine La Mararine, Côtes du Rhône Rosé, Rhône Valley, France.
The deeper hued pink/salmon La Mararine Rosé is very Tavel like in nature and a pure Rhône flavorful, but dry pink wine that can be enjoyed with food, especially outdoor BBQs, and or as an aperitif pa rimer with its range of sour cherry, crushed red berry, strawberry and watermelon fruits, as well as its rounded medium bodied palate, delicate florals, minty sage, wet stone and zesty ruby citrus pith. There’s just the right amount of fruitiness, crisp focus, quaffability and subtle earthiness to keep you interested, making it both complex and easily refreshing for the warm days of Summer. The winery says that the Rosé is vinified completely bone dry and that It is usually a blend of Grenache (60%), bringing out the fruit and brightness here, young vines Mourvèdre (20%), giving an extra degree of structure, and Syrah (20%), which adds texture and color. Like the white wine at La Manarine, the Rosé is fermented and aged in cement vats exclusively and is bottled in the early spring following harvest. The slightly longer maceration and aging here, brings out a richer expression of Rosé, which sometimes is just what the doctor ordered, in particular I like this style with spicy sea food dishes. So if you are looking for a bargain and something a bit different, as well as a true terroir driven Côtes du Rhône wine, the collection at Domaine La Manarine is a great place to start.
Domaine la Manarine, as mentioned in prior reviews, was established back in 2001 by Gilles Gasq, who was the long serving assistant winemaker at the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s Domaine Monpertuis, and he has a wonderful collection of vines as well as his cellar in the tiny village of Travaillan, in the southern Rhone just northeast of Orange, not too far from Chateauneuf. The soils here are mostly marl (limestone) and is also littered with Galets, the smooth round stones and pebbles that are famous in Chateauneuf and Gasq has mainly Genache planted here, though he does have a parcel of Syrah and recently added a vineyard of Carignan, which he plans on bottling as a single varietal wine along with a smattering of various white grapes that form his Cotes du Rhone Blanc. The warm and dry Mediterranean climate leads to small yields of concentrated grapes making for wines of complexity, rustic or authentic charm and density of flavors, even in their tasty Rosé. I’m a big fan of the basic Rouge Côtes du Rhône bottling here at La Manarine and usually just focus on that, but I was delighted to taste the Rosé and I hopefully will get a chance to try their Carignane based red at some point in the near future, as that intrigues me. As I’ve noted before, the rustic authenticity found in the La Manarine wines is a big draw and they are killer values in a world gone a bit nuts on the higher end side of things.
($16 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive