Chateau de Pibarnon Rosé...a 10 year wine

Spring has sprung, a little early this year.  And with it will come this year's crop of 2011 Rosé wines, a little earlier every year it seems.  As we all scramble to sell off any stray bottles of 2010, a process that will make for some really great deals for consumers, I am happy to relate this anecdote that Eric de Saint-Victor of Chateau de Pibarnon shared at last week's tasting at the French Embassy.  Bandol Rosé is considered by many to be the finest of all the dry Rosé wines, and the most long lived.  Eric was conversing with an importer who was concerned that he had not yet sold all the Rosé wine that he had brought in and wanted to know how much longer he had to sell the wines before they would be too old or tired.  "Well," the winemaker considered, "they are two years old now...so you have about eight more years."  Chateau de Pibarnon Rosé is one wine we never have to worry about selling.  The far bigger challenge is getting our hands on some of this incredible wine in the first place.

Yannis Tsapos and Eric Saint-Victor at The French Embassy

The 2011 is spectacular, and reveals itself in layer after layer.   The color is a beautiful onion skin/copper, what the French refer to as "oeil de perdrix" or eye of the partridge, with ruby tints and golden highlights.  The heady nose is alive and expressive, with fresh pear, apricot, red berries, white grapes, sultana, and ripe strawberries.  On the palate it is at once lush and lively; fat, plump peaches, apricots, mango, kiwi, pineapple, strawberry and on and on.  Luscious, fresh and oh so long, this had everyone clamoring for another taste.