I've got my chair tipped back, my feet up and a glass of
dripping, shimmering, gorgeous Couly Dutheil
Rosé in my hand, as I watch the late afternoon
melt kaleidoscopically into early evening. A
refill, please!
I'm drinking Rosé all year round but in the summertime it has a special place. Picnics and barbecues beg for Rosé and a vacation weekend is incomplete without it. With the fourth of July coming you should be stocking up.
This is some classy Rosé! I knew I was
going to like it because when Arnaud Couly of
Domaine Couly-Dutheil makes a wine he really
pours himself into it, but I didn't expect to
be completely conquered by its nervy little
charm.
Many of us are now very familiar with the
wines of
Domaine Couly Dutheil. They've got a line-up
of some of the best Chinon in the Loire:
succulent Baronnie Madeleine, Clos de
l'Echo, and the very delicious and rare
white
Chinon Les Chanteaux but his Rosé made
from 100% Cabernet Franc takes Rosé to a new
level.
Arnaud's Rosé brings beautiful warm spring
and summer days right to my lips. You can
taste the hint of red berries (Rosé should
never just taste like pink white wine) and
there is that zing of fresh, perfect acidity
in your mouth. The color is like a perfect
sunset after a perfect day of summer.
And it comes from one of the most beautiful
villages in all of France: Chinon. I've been
drinking Chinon for twenty-five years. But, I
cannot taste a Chinon without a vivid picture
of the village popping into my mind.
All up and down the river are France's
signature plane trees, stumpy and squat from
rigorous pruning, in the winter and bursting
with shade-giving leaves, in the summer.
There is an open-air market once a week. You
can sip your noir double in the morning and
watch the trafficking of ripe peaches and
aromatic melons and cheeses and feel a few
million miles away from anything flashy and
artificial and second-rate.
Domaine Couly Dutheil has been making some of
the Loire's best wines for 80 years now. This
Rosé is produced on gravel and sandy soils.
The grapes are picked by hand and the yields
are low.
The best Rosé begins by pressing the grapes
the way you normally would for any red wine.
The juice is then allowed to sit with the grape
skins briefly (usually just a few hours)
picking up color,
but also
tannins, pectins and proteins which give the
wine structure. Then the juice is drained
off, put into another vat without the skins
and the fermentation proceeds. The process is
called saignée.
This is what gives Rosé its beautiful,
seductive, pale color and subtle red fruit
notes. Are you ready to put your feet up? This Rosé says you are.
Cynthia Hurley
