2025 Château Gassier, Côtes de Provence Rosé, France.
The Gassier basic Côtes de Provence Rosé, known as the Esprit, is a pale, dry and crisp wine with a quality depth flavors, mineral tones and elegant fruit, leaning, in this 2025, on ruby grapefruit, watermelon, sour cherry and peach flesh, along with saline, wet stone and hints of spice and rosewater. The light body and fine detailing make this vintage a lovely value priced quaffer and will be a perfect Rosé to stock up on for the warm Spring and Summer months ahead. While I loved the upper range of offerings here at Gassier and highly recommend the step up, it is hard to beat this bottling for price and drinkability! Done in all cool stainless steel, this Rosé is a Vin Gris blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Rolle (Vermentino) and Ugni Blanc and unique to this version in the lineup.
Château Gassier, led by winemaker Georges Gassier and oenologist Léa Rouyet, (are) a leader in organic, clean cellar practices and harmony with nature here in Provence, says that this wine comes from Provençal vineyards, a few kilometres from the beautiful city of Aix-en-Provence, close to the Mediterranean sea and at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain. The rocky bar of the Sainte-Victoire asserts a continental microclimate and somewhat mitigates the vivacity of the Mistral, which I known is the wind that blows fiercely through the Luberon and to the sea. The terroir here, with its iron rich red clay and limestone base, allows for perfect ripening of the grapes and the retention of acidity that really makes these wines stand out for freshness and purity. Again, this 2025 is drinking wonderfully well and will be a big hit with bargain hunters and Provence enthusiasts alike, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.
($18 Est.) 89 Points, graplive