Even though summer is nearly upon us, the refreshing color and style of rosé wine can be enjoyed all year. And there’s no better place to get it from than Provence, France.
Rosé wine is made in virtually every wine producing country of the world. It is also made in a variety of methods. The two basic methods include saignée, a method in which a rosé wine results from the “bleeding off” of a red wine in vat. This allows the red wine in vat to become more concentrated in color and flavor. The excess wine that had been bled-off is a lightly colored and less tannic wine. Rosé.
The other method is the deliberate production of a rosé wine. This method is similar to the white wine production process. The key difference is that the skin of the red Provence grapes in the blend tints the white unfermented juice (must) a pinkish/orange color. Voila, a rosé in the making. The depth and hue of color is dependent on the grape variety and also how long the skin contact lasts.
Mirabeau: Rosé Wine from Provence
Recently, Stephen Cronk, the founder of Mirabeau en Provence, came to New York to showcase his brand of rosé wine. If you have read the books and have seen the movies set in Provence, already you are expecting sunshine, flowers, and delicious rosé wine. That is the dream.
Years ago, UK-based Stephen and his wife Jeany had that picture of Provence in their minds as they toiled in their day jobs and dreamed of a better life.
Though they knew nothing about winemaking, they had the idea of creating a winery and making wine.
For those who have that dream, reality usually sets in. First of all, money is required to start a winery, yes? And then how is it possible to make wine if you don’t have a winemaking diploma or experience? And what if you’ve never even worked a summer during a winery’s grape harvest to know what it’s all about?
Even if all of the above are minor considerations, what if you have three young children to support? And none of you speak French? How can you just pack up and move to a new country like that?
These realities are probably what would have deterred many of us from just packing up and moving to Provence.
But Stephen and his wife just decided to pack up and go.
Sourcing the grapes
Stephen comes across as a charming and resourceful man. It is possible that both of these abilities helped him a great deal when he set up his Mirabeau en Provence operation.
First, most people imagine that it is necessary to plant a vineyard before making wine. Today, it is increasingly common to source grapes from people who own vineyards, and then make wine from these grapes.
Stephen was able to find a variety of growers who went a step further. Instead of just selling him the grapes, they sold him the newly fermented wine from their plots. In this way, Stephen could blend the wine from the various plots together in true artisanal fashion.
Even better, Stephen was somehow able to get actor Brad Pitt’s wine production team in Provence to help him make the wine.
Branding
Though Stephen worked in the technology field, not advertising or marketing, he is quite clever in branding his Mirabeau en Provence wine.
If you look at his gorgeous Instagram page, there is one pretty picture after another, all promoting the Provence lifestyle. As you can see from the examples, the sky is always blue, the yellow sun is always shining and the rosé wine is a delicate, light shade of pink.
When people are featured in the pictures, they all look like they are having fun. “People buy rosé wine with their eyes,” Stephen says, explaining why the color of his wines are so important.
The range of Mirabeau en Provence wines are all a light pink color, though the wines with an extra year of age are a slightly darker hue. The main wines in the portfolio include the Classic Rosé, Pure Rosé, and Etoile Rosé all made from traditional Provence varieties.
Look for these wines at your local market and for a moment, take a mental journey to Provence!
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