My favorite dry rose is back, it's back on deal, and it's another highly successful vintage of the La Cave du Prieure Gamay Rose. This uber-refreshing pink wine is what you want in your glass on warm and sunny days.
From the chalky, limestone slopes of Savoie, this is everything I look for in dry rose and more. Gorgeously aromatic, super refreshing, and wonderfully pure, this is both easy-to-drink and sophisticated.
2022 La Cave du Prieure Gamay Rose
Bursting with aromas and flavors of raspberry, cherry, tart strawberry, flowers, and mineral. - 94 points - Yours Truly :)
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What a wine! We tasted this last week with our Rise Over Run rep Chris Thornbury, and we all jumped with joy right when we smelled this one. This is our idea of the perfect dry rose -- it's crisp, it's clean, it's refreshing, and it's just downright delicious. It's also hand-crafted by a small, fifth generation, family-owned winery, and we like that too.
Vintage 2022 was a challenging one for brothers Pascal, Noel, and Julien Barlet. Everything was going great until springtime, when a hail storm decimated over 50% of their grapes. I can't imagine how devastating the Barlets were
One of the elements present here that many roses in this price range lack is MINERAL. Just like the stony minerality found in top-flight Sancerre, Chablis, and Mosel Riesling, this one exudes that sense of place that all world-class wines do. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The Barlet Family have farmed the chalky slopes of Jongieux for 5 generations. These elevated, steep, and south-facing vineyard sites can only be worked by hand, and brothers Pascal, Noel, and Julien take great pride in the fruits of their labor. We just get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but if you end up drinking this wine, remember that it came from a dedicated and hard-working, family-run estate.
Even better, the wines are brought to us by Asheville's own Rise Over Run, a small importer and distributor dedicated to stocking, promoting, and selling "singular wines from diverse and often challenging sites, and the dedicated families who farm them." Their mission is similar to ours, and there's a real connection between us, them, and the small growers they represent.
Now, back to the wine. This is 100% Gamay, the same grape you'd find growing due east in Beaujolais. Gamay's natural freshness and red fruit character make it an ideal grape for crafting fabulous dry rose. When you combine that with rocky, mineral-rich soils and the Barlet's cooler, elevated sites, it all comes together to create a wine of true joy.
This is a quintessentially Alpine wine — full of mountain herbs and charged with freshness brought on by steep slopes and high elevations. The nose is truly thrilling, offering up gorgeous aromas of tart strawberry, raspberry, crushed rock, green herbs, and white flowers. Even better is the palate, which balances ripe fruit with zesty acids to create a completely balanced texture and mouthfeel.
All in all, this is the "good stuff," and you'll be very happy when you get some in your glass. Enjoy this one with fresh summer fare -- think lots of green veggies and light flaky fish and shrimp. It also would make a great beach or pool beverage. You get the point.
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Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville