2024 Domaine de Fontsainte, Corbières Rosé Gris de Gris, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
One of the most interesting, delicious and fun values in the wine world is Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris Rosé, a wine that is a saignée rosé made from mainly Grenache Gris, a unique French mutation of Grenache with a paler skin pigment, like Pinot Gris. The 2024 version is slightly reductive, medium bodied and vibrant in the glass with a delicate light salmon/pink hue and shows a crisp dry palate of sour cherry, ruby grapefruit, watermelon and spiced raspberry fruits, along with subtle mineral, rosewater and summer sage notes. Corbières, in the south of France, is kissed by sea breezes from the Mediterranean and is warmly sun soaked, it is a terroir that largely overlooked, but can make for some incredible wines, especially the reds made from old vine Carignan, along with a mix of other Rhône varietals, and Domaine de Fontsainte is one of the best estates to start a journey into these wines. I’ve been drinking the Fontsainte Gris de Gris since the early 2000s and a Summer season is not complete without going through a few bottles. This vintage is rewarding and remains a top value in quality Rosé, great in the normal 750ml bottle, but even better in the magnum, if you can find them! Fontsainte’s red wines are wonderful efforts as well, and while this wine gets most of the attention, their old vine Corbières Rouge “Réserve La Demoiselle” is awesome stuff.
Producer Bruno Laboucarié’s Domaine de Fontsainte was originally founded back in 1971 and started with a collection of ancient vines and with a family winemaking history that dates back to the 17th century in the region. Importer Kermit Lynch says the first vineyards at Domaine de Fontsainte, in the Corbières appellation of the Languedoc-Roussillon, were in fact originally planted by the Romans. He adds that artifacts found in these vineyards, such as an old coin dating from the time of Marcus Agrippa in 25 A.D., are a testament to its antiquity. The original domaine was built around a thermal spring, which was later named for the local, twelfth-century patron saint, Saint Siméon, hence the Fontsainte name. The Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris is crafted from 90% Grenache Gris, 5% Carignan and 5% Mourvèdre, that comes from southeastern facing slopes set on silica, clay, limestone and gravelly soils with large galets (round stones), not unlike Châteauneuf du Pape, is all stainless steel fermented. The hand harvested grapes are cool soaked on the skins for about 24 hours with as the winery calls débourbage, or settling of the must, then the alcoholic fermentation takes place at cool temperatures for 35 days without malolactic conversion. Then the wine settles for just about a month before being bottled to preserve absolute freshness and transparency. Brilliant with food, especially mussels in spicy broth, this Summer sipper brings loads of smiles and is a non guilty pleasure, so I would suggest stocking up on this Gris de Gris.
($18 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive