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2018 Saint-Chinian Rosé
Mas ChampartA French journalist once described Mas Champart as “discreet excellence,” and I couldn’t agree more. Long before it became a trend (a trend, by the way, that I support wholeheartedly!), Mas Champart was doing what we love most in a rosé: fermenting with native yeasts, using little to no sulfur in the winemaking, and allowing the malolactic fermentation to occur. If all you need is a cold rosé for ice cubes and the beach, none of the above steps are really that important. But if you like your rosé to be real, to show a sense of place, and to drink like a wine instead of a beverage, these steps are essential. This rosé is intensely aromatic, round yet airy, with a strong southern French identity. For those of you who are familiar with this rosé from past vintages, be prepared for a nice surprise this year. There’s more Mourvèdre in the mix, from more serious terroir (usually reserved for their rouge), which makes this about as serious and real a rosé as you can get.
—Chris Santini
Wine Type: | Rosé |
Vintage: | 2018 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 70% Mourvèdre, 30% Cinsault |
Appellation: | Saint-Chinian |
Country: | France |
Region: | Languedoc-Roussillon |
Producer: | Mas Champart |
Winemaker: | Isabelle & Mathieu Champart |
Vineyard: | Cinsault: 50 years, Mourvèdre: 25 years |
Soil: | Marl, Limestone |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 13% |
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About The Producer
Mas Champart
About The Region
Languedoc-Roussillon
Ask wine drinkers around the world, and the word “Languedoc” is sure to elicit mixed reactions. On the one hand, the region is still strongly tied to its past as a producer of cheap, insipid bulk wine in the eyes of many consumers. On the other hand, it is the source of countless great values providing affordable everyday pleasure, with an increasing number of higher-end wines capable of rivaling the best from other parts of France.
While there’s no denying the Languedoc’s checkered history, the last two decades have seen a noticeable shift to fine wine, with an emphasis on terroir. Ambitious growers have sought out vineyard sites with poor, well draining soils in hilly zones, curbed back on irrigation and the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and looked to balance traditional production methods with technological advancements to craft wines with elegance, balance, and a clear sense of place. Today, the overall quality and variety of wines being made in the Languedoc is as high as ever.
Shaped like a crescent hugging the Mediterranean coast, the region boasts an enormous variety of soil types and microclimates depending on elevation, exposition, and relative distance from the coastline and the cooler foothills farther inland. While the warm Mediterranean climate is conducive to the production of reds, there are world-class whites and rosés to be found as well, along with stunning dessert wines revered by connoisseurs for centuries.
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Where the newsletter started
Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch