Clos Cibonne "Cuvée Marius" Provence, France 2022

FROM DE MAISON:

THE WINE: 90% Tibouren / 10% Grenache. Château Cibon Cuvée Marius is a tribute to Marius Roux, the modern founder of Clos Cibonne and defender of the tibouren grape in Provence in the 1800s. Marius Roux, born in 1875, led the estate’s destiny, passing it to his wife Valentine, who inherited the lands around the Castle of Cibonne. It was Marius who first focused the estate solely on wine production. The label is a recreation of the original labels of the late 1800s, when the winery was called Château Cibon. This design predates their iconic labels designed in the 1920s, which still adorn their other cuvées today.

The Château Cibon Cuvée Marius is inspired and informed by the incredible vintages of Clos Cibonne, which survived and improved in their cellar from top vintages of decades past. It bears remembrance when drinking the really old wines at Cibonne. Old methods of (slightly) higher alcohols and phenological ripeness, combined with barrel aging, built classic wines with the structure to age and improved for a long time. Utilizing similar techniques, albeit with a modern winemaker’s knowledge and tools, they have managed to craft a beautifully rich and complexly structured wine, built to develop for decades to come with proper time in the cellar.

THE PRODUCER: Clos Cibonne is not only an incredibly original property in Provence, ensconced by the natural beauty of their landscape, producing wines which always transcend the rosé category, but they are also an anomaly within France in general. For centuries, Clos Cibonne has bravely forged their own distinct path. They have held true to a tradition of making age-worthy fine wines which happen to be rosé, in the midst of an appellation which rewards fitting in and churning out the same-but-different rosé wines which are ubiquitous throughout Côtes de Provence. It is this independence and originality that has made Clos Cibonne one of the most sought after cult wineries in France, with demand greatly outpacing their artisan-scale production.