Bandol Rosé, “Vesprée”

In homage to Bandol’s noblest cepage, “Vesprée”—a somewhat untranslatable French term referring to the deep pinkish hue of a clear sky as day fades to night—is 100% Mourvèdre. Etienne aged half of it in a single six-hectoliter oak cask, and the other half in a concrete egg—an eye-grabbing vessel that promotes aeration, stabilizes temperature naturally, and allows the wine inside to flow continuously and smoothly. It was bottled in mid-September of 2017—after nearly a full year of élevage, and over six months later than the regular bottling—and it will finally reach our shores the last week of January. “Vesprée” presents a full, swaggering nose of quince paste, white pepper, and coarse-ground Indian spices, and the big, richly textured palate possesses a structural tension that heavily underlines its potential for aging—though it is fresh, tense, and very delicious right now. It is exceedingly difficult to find rosé of this caliber and character, even from Bandol—and, in a twist of irony, this wine which is so purely and deeply Bandol to its very core was denied appellation status on three separate occasions, and is thus labeled a “Vin de France.”