The 2022 Bandol Ros from Domaine du Gros Nor is all the talk here in Berkeley. Crisp and characterful, and loaded with Provenal complexity, its a balanced blend of structured Mourvdre with equal parts Cinsault, a more delicate variety, and fruit-forward Grenache. Alain was once profiled during harvest for the major, and after seeing footage of his rigorous sorting practices, its easy to see why his ros tastes so damn good.
It all depends on the raw material, he says. If we dont have that, we cant make a high-quality wine. Standing atop his tractor amid a bounty of freshly-clipped Mourvdre, he inspects each and every cluster. Grabbing one whole like a giant drumstick, he tears off a bite with his teeth and swishes the skins, seeds, and pulp as if it were already wine. He pauses in reflection, then spits vigorously into an imaginary spittoon. Too acidic, we cant use that bunch.
Its August in Provence so Alain and his team pick before dawn to ensure the grapes remain cool. As the sun stretches up over the hills of La Cadire dAzur, he practices yet another quality control technique. Holding up a gorgeous, plump cluster of Mourvdre to the first rays of light, Alain fixates on where the sun enters the translucent skin of some pinker-looking berries, then tosses it to the ground. Not ripe enough, he indicates. It seems crazy to reject so much decent fruit, especially for a mere ros, but Alain isnt one to settle, and this is no ordinary ros. As soon as my grapes enter the cellar, the wine is ninety percent complete. I am just there to accompany them. Alain repeats the sunlight test with a different bunch, only this time a glowy halo appears, and every berry looks deep, dark, and densley purple. This one makes it to press. With such ripe fruit, how does Alain keep his ros so refreshing? I press gently, never over-extracting. I prefer to lose in quantity over quality, thats how to preserve finesse.