Château Pradeaux "Vesprée" Bandol Rosé, Provence, France 2024

FROM ROSENTHAL:

THE WINE: Cinsault (50%), Mourvedre (50%). In homage to Bandol’s noblest cepage, “Vesprée”—a somewhat untranslatable French term referring to the deep pinkish hue of a clear sky as day fades to night—is 100% Mourvèdre. Etienne aged half of it in a single six-hectoliter oak cask, and the other half in a concrete egg—an eye-grabbing vessel that promotes aeration, stabilizes temperature naturally, and allows the wine inside to flow continuously and smoothly. It was bottled in mid-September of 2017—after nearly a full year of élevage, and over six months later than the regular bottling—and it will finally reach our shores the last week of January. “Vesprée” presents a full, swaggering nose of quince paste, white pepper, and coarse-ground Indian spices, and the big, richly textured palate possesses a structural tension that heavily underlines its potential for aging—though it is fresh, tense, and very delicious right now. It is exceedingly difficult to find rosé of this caliber and character, even from Bandol—and, in a twist of irony, this wine which is so purely and deeply Bandol to its very core was denied appellation status on three separate occasions, and is thus labeled a “Vin de France.”

THE PRODUCER: There is the appellation of Bandol with its plethora of producers, some good, some mediocre; and then there is Château Pradeaux, the unique, inimitable, standard-bearer for this ancient wine-growing district. The Château Pradeaux is situated on the outskirts of the town of Saint Cyr-sur-Mer that lies directly on the Mediterranean Ocean between Toulon and Marseilles. The estate has been in the hands of the Portalis family since before the French Revolution. In fact, Jean-Marie-Etienne Portalis, who inherited the estate in 1752, helped draft the Napoleonic Code and assisted at the negotiation of the Concordat under Napoleon the First. The estate was devastated during the French Revolution and suffered the effects of the phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century. Suzanne Portalis and her daughter, Arlette, retreated to the domaine during World War II and undertook to revive the domaine. The domaine is currently under the direction of Cyrille Portalis, the sole direct descendant of Suzanne and Arlette. He continues to maintain the great traditions of this estate and is assisted by his wife, Magali, and now his two sons, Etienne and Edouard.