As many of you know, I was once a cycle tour guide in Europe (which was the genesis of this blog). The company where I worked for all those years, Blue Marble Travel, has shaped my life in countless ways but sadly no longer exists. A couple months ago, I was back in France, riding one of those Blue Marble routes, but not as a guide; this time I was riding solo.

After two days of heavy, gloomy, and wet skies in Nîmes, today I am headed east (and a bit south) to the quintessential Provençal town, Aix-en-Provence. There, I will meet with some of the fine people of Intervins Sud-Est to have a small tasting of rosé wines from the region.

The weather, of course, was fabulous the morning I left Nîmes….

As many of the readers of this space know, while I am far from an “expert” when it comes to rosé wines, I have tasted my fair share of them through both personal consumption and my annual “World’s Largest Blind Tasting of American True Rosé” (which will have its ninth iteration this May).

While my tastings focus on American pink wines, today’s tasting will obviously be of their French counterparts, specifically those produced under the Méditerranée Indication Géographique Protégée (IGP) designation.

Without getting too much into it here, French wine is a bit of a conundrum for the typical American consumer, since most French wines are labeled with the wine’s region instead of variety (e.g., “Chablis” instead of “Chardonnay”). To make it a bit more confusing, there are several layers of quality, guaranteed by the both the state (France) and the European Union (EU).

At the top of that pyramid, essentially, are AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controllée) designated wines (to make it more confusing, the EU refers to these as AOP wines, where the “P” refers to “Protegé” or “Protected”). The large majority of wines that make it outside of France are AOC wines.

Next in the pyramid are wines made under the IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) classification (again, to make it more confusing, the folks in Italy use “IGT” for these wines). IGP wines (formerly known as “Vin de Pays” which I don’t know if that makes it more or less confusing for you) cover broader areas, in general, than AOC wines and, typically, have more relaxed rules concerning varieties used and crop yields, for example.

[I will discuss the intricacies about IGT wines further in future posts.]

So. I arrive in Aix and make my way to Intervins, where they were to have “a couple dozen or so” rosés for me to taste. After some introductions, I was led to the tasting room where I was told “a few more wines had arrived” since our last exchange of emails.

How many?

We were up to “around 50” I was told. And I had a little over a couple of hours to taste them. It was going to be close–I know tasting wine sounds like a pretty cushy gig, but 50? In a couple of hours? Yikes. It turns out that there were actually 71 wines to taste, and still the same two hours. Double yikes. Needless to say (perhaps?), I went a little bit long on time.

So what is it like to taste 71 rosés? Well, there is no easy way to answer that question, but here is a video, just over a minute long, that tries to convey the chore.

Here are the first dozen wines of the tasting, I will do my best to get up the remainder over the next few days or so…

The room where I conducted the tasting was impressive (albeit a bit gloomy–it was essentially a windowless lab) with about 20 tasting stations, complete with spittoon/sink, faucet, and blinders between stations.

2023 Famille Ravoire Collection Bleu Azur, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $12. 50% Grenache Noir, 30% Cinsault, 20% Syrah. Fairly light in color. Lovely nose. Fruity, tart, mineral. Excellent. 91 Points.

2023 Vignerons du Roy René Marseilla, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $13(?). 60% Caladoc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Muscat. Screwcap. Deeper color here, more of a rich salmon. Rich red fruit. Tons of strawberry. Rich and fruity. With a bit of minerality on the finish. Very Good. 89 Points.

2023 Famille Ravoire Les Olivades, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $12(?). 50% Grenache Noir, 30% Cinsault, 10% Tibouren. Medium to light color. Perfumed and floral nose, fairly delicate. Shy on the palate as well with red rose petals more than fruit. Really light but quite refreshing. Very Good. 88 Points.

I fully admit that these photos, well, suck, but time was of the essence and I was happy they were at least in focus (for the most part, at least).

2023 Domaine Martin Le Petit Martin, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $15. 50% Grenache, 50% Cinsault. Darkest color so far of the tasting, a vibrant, rich salmon. Salty red fruit on the nose, even coming off as slightly gamey. But agreable. A bit lacking in acidity on the palate and it is difficult to find much fruit. Still, an interesting wine. Very Good. 87 Points.

2023 Château Val Joanis Les Agasses, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $18. Syrah, Grenache, Merlot, Rolle. Medium color. Classic nose. Mostly floral but some subtle red fruit. Solid. With fruit and tartness (although could use a bit more acidity, to be honest). Nice finish. Very Good. 89 Points.

2023 Domaine Des Peyre Paparazzi N° 011, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $20. 35% Grenache, 35% Carignan, 30% Cinsault. Medium salmon color, with a lively tropical nose (papaya, guava). Tons of papaya in fact. Yum. Fruity and tasty on the palate with a lingering finish. A little light in acid perhaps but lovely. Excellent. 90 Points.

2023 Domaine Fontaine du Clos Certitude, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $14. Syrah, Nielluccio, Sciaccarello, Muscat d’Alexandrie. Light to medium salmon. Mineral and salty on the nose. Almost ocean water kind of vibe. Surprisingly rich and voluptuous with tons of melon on the palate. And the salinity coming through on the finish. Yeah. I dig this one. Excellent. 92 Points.

2023 Château Ferry Lacombe Mystère, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $16. 50% Grenache, 30% Grenache Blanc, 20% Caladoc. The first in the tasting that has that bubblegum pink hue, which is light to medium in intensity. Tree fruit (peach) with some strawberry fruit on the nose and palate. Good tartness but fruit not quite in harmony with all that acidity. Very Good. 89 Points.

2023 Château La Borie Rosé, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $18. 60% Cinsault, 40% Grenache. Medium color with more of a salmon orange than pink. A salty and fruity nose with red berry and red apple. Rather subtle on the palate with just that salinity coming through. Some red fruit comes in on the finish. Overall subtle but nice. Very Good. 89 Points.

2023 Domaine de la Bégude Cadet de la Bégude Rosé, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $17. 70% Grenache, 25% Cinsault, 5% Mourvèdre. Medium to dark intensity in color. Salty and a tad meaty with a darker vibe on the nose. Tart fruit even some rhubarb on the palate with excellent balance and a nice finish. Perhaps not a “typical” rosé flavor profile but very nice. Excellent. 91 Points.

2023 Château Les Valentines Miss Valentine, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $20. 70% Grenache, 30% Syrah. OK, I have to get this off my chest: Dumb bottle. It will never fit in any wine rack and weighs a ton. Dumb. Medium intensity of color with a salty strawberry vibe on the nose. Light in fruit on the palate but high in acidity. Nice but needs more fruit. Very Good. 88 Points.

2023 Les Vignobles Gueissard Le Petit Gueissard, IGP Méditerranée Rosé: Retail $19. 35% Syrah, 35% Grenache, 30% Cinsault. Very light color in the glass with just a hint of pink. Very fruity on the nose with loads of strawberry and underripe cherry. Lovely. The palate does not disappoint either and may just be the best wine of this tasting. Fruity, tart, engaging, yet also demure and elegant. Yeah. Outstanding. 94 Points.