Why You Should Age Rosé...Well, This One for Sure...
August 9th, 2018
Emily and I had dinner last Saturday at our friend's place and I'd been tasked with most of the cooking (the proteins) and, naturally, brought a few wines along as well - two of which were both 'last year' Rosés.
The first was the Le Clos Peyrassol, Commanderie's top-tier pinky. That was so lovely and elegant, with such delicate nuance, that it was the perfect 'first' wine.
The second one was the real showstopper, though - Pradeaux's Bandol Rosé fron 2016.
Now, I've long been a proponent of 'Last Year's Rosé'. Many pink wines show more depth, complexity and overall balance after some time in bottle, but since Rosé is mostly a Summer (and lately, a hashtag) phenomenon, most people are only concerned with how it will taste in the next 20 minutes, as opposed to the next 12 months.
So, there's not really much of an incentive to sell it under the 'ageing' header.
But, if ever there is one Rosé that I'd feel the need, or the responsibility, to encourage you to age, it's Pradeaux's Bandol.
Yes, it's a classic bottling - one with all of the reputation and notoriety it'll ever need. And it's one that has no problem selling itself out every year to be drunk right away.
BUT I'm here to tell you to, if at all possible, lay at least a few bottles down for next Summer.
I'll say it this way - in addition to the 2 Rosés, we had an older bottle of Jacquesson 7-Series Champagne (lively and precise), a '99 CVNE Imperial (bright-red and supple) and a '99 Quintarelli Valpolicella (need I say more?), but the Pradeaux Rosé - with is broad, meaty, spiciness buried inside some very deep, textured fruit that finished with a pang of wonderfully stony acidity - was perhaps the most impressive.
Am I saying that it's a 'better' wine than the others? Of course not, but for that situation (and about a thousand others), it was so perfectly delicious that my only regret was that the bottle was gone by the time the main courses (a perfectly 'medium' roast of pork and some lovely corn w/chorizo and cilantro) hit the table, because it would have been fantastic with those as well.
So, yeah, buy some and take half and forget about it for a year...
...I always do and I want you to experience the fireworks as well!
Matt Franco
MCF Rare Wine, Ltd
249 West 13th Street NYC 10014
212.255.8870
WARNING: DRINKING DISTILLED SPIRITS, BEER, COOLERS, WINE AND OTHER ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES MAY INCREASE CANCER RISK, AND, DURING PREGNANCY, CAN CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS.