Only three cases of each to go around... in store now in Chapel Hill... grab them while you can...

NOTE: There are two wines here.

Bastide Blanche Bandol Rose 2016

$22.99 net

No current score; previously rated 92 pts Wine Advocate & 91 pts Vinous Media

This is a complex, perfectly balanced wine with a luminous salmon color and enchanting mineral-laced notes of red-currant, ripe peach, blood orange, tangerine, cherry pit, rose, and spice. Medium+-bodied, rich and fully-layered, the palate is dense with creamy berry fruit, citrus and stone flavors, ripe and full of bright balancing acidity with terrific density and polished personality. The focus and precision in such a lush and full wine is especially refreshing. It has terrific depth of fruit and serious length on the finish, all while staying perfectly balanced and easy-drinking.

Bastide Blanche’s beautiful Bandol rosé is comprised primarily Mourvedre with Cinsault and Grenache. The Mourvedre is pressed and run off directly, the Cinsault and Grenache undergo 24 hours of skin contact. Certified organic grapes are sourced from the Bronzo family vineyard in Le Castellet.

An absolutely smoking-good rosé now, but this is a serious rosé that will have 2-3 years of prime drinking, and if you're so inclined, an interesting evolution beyond that. It’s perfectly matched with grilled tuna, Salade Nicoise, pork, chicken, bouillabaisse, and mild, creamy cheeses.

In the early ‘70s Michel and Louis Bronzo acquired the property of the Bastide Blanche, with an eye to produce from appellation Bandol wines the equal of more famous appellations like Chateauneuf. Their painstaking efforts were rewarded in 1993 when vintage conditions created the benchmark year to put Bandol in general and Bastide-Blanche, in particular, on the map of top producers in France. Common each year to their success are their very low yields, never more than 34 or 35 Hl/Ha, and simply impeccable cellar conditions and attention. Situated in St. Anne de Castellet, a terroir of Bandol rich in limestone. This, and the high proportion of Mourvedre gives this domaine some of the most ripe and expressive of Bandol.


Collotte Marsannay Rose 2016

Sale $17.99 net

No review as the wine will be long sold out before it is reviewed. 

“[Collette’s] rosés, made from Pinot Noir, are among the very best in the world with clean, fresh, crisp fruit and flavors with solid balancing acidity and a bone-dry finish.” - Burghound.com

Vivid bright pink and pale orange in color. Dried red berries, strawberry and nectarine, along with spicy and rosy floral aromas and succulent herbs on the fragrant nose. Chewy and dry on entry, then fleshier in the mid-palate, offering nervy redcurrant and cherry flavors and a touch of white pepper. Finishes with good lift and cut, leaving a gentle, lingering floral and bone dry finish. Drink: 2017-2020.

Marsannay Rosé is long-standing cultural tradition in Burgundy with Marsannay being the only village to have the appellation for a rosé. The wine is made from 75% direct press and 25% 36-hour maceration fruit. Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks with malolactic-fermentation done before Christmas and bottling in early March.

Marsannay crops were devastated by late frosts, losing as much as 90% of the crop. Collotte’s yields are notoriously low, but the supply of 2016 is just a fraction of what is available in a “normal” vintage. Can you see why I’m clamoring to get my hands on a bottle and taste that rich flavor?

Side note: The photo here is of fires surrounding a vineyard in April of 2016 in an effort to raise the ambient temperatures. I know all too well the stress of a late frost and the lengths one will go to protect his plant life, and in this case, livelihood.

But I digress… Back to the subject at hand… Collotte and his gorgeously painstaking winemaking.

Philippe Collotte is a tall, quiet man with a lot of passion to make superb wines just waiting to be unleashed. He conducts meticulous selections before and at harvest, completely de-stems the fruit, and bottles everything unfiltered. His Bourgogne parcel was planted in 1947 and there are 5 parcels of 50+ year old vines in his exquisite Marsannay VV. Tillage is all done by plowing and no chemical herbicides are ever used. All fermentations are done with indigenous yeasts only. His philosophy is that natural nurturing and lots of hands-on time with the vines promotes healthy grapes for excellent wine. Collotte’s yields are well below the appellation’s allowances because of the painstaking devotion to perfection. Recently, Philippe's daughter, Isabelle has completed viticulture school and is joining her father in the domaine. Her specialty is making the family's superb Marsannay blancs.


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