Clos Roche Blanche Pineau D’Aunis Rosé – Summer!

Vancouver had a sunny day last week!  So, I decided to open a bottle of Clos Roche Blanche 2010 Pineau D’Aunis Rosé.  Clocking in at 12% alcohol, this rosé is quite distinctive.  The wine has a slight peppery taste that keeps the wine unique, tasty and fresh.  The wine is even better out of a fridge for about ½ hour – nicely chilled but not very cold.  It is not so easy to get an allocation of the rosé from Clos Roche Blanche because Catherine and Didier, proprietors, make so little of it.  There is a scant 0.4 hectares (about 1 acre) of Pineau D’Aunis planted at Clos Roche Blanche.  And what little of the rosé there is, the locals grab them quickly.   

“Brian, please reserve early if you would like some rosé”, hinted Catherine when I visited her last autumn.  I am so glad I did.  All of their wines are hand-bottled without filtration to keep all that ‘goodness’ of the wine.  Yes, hand-bottled without filtration to avoid the harshness of pumps associated with a bottling machine.  The wine has a bit of that beautiful cloudy appearance that I often associate with artisanal wines. Since wine is a living product, Catherine and Didier do their best to keep it ‘alive’. 

The family had the rosé with some prosciutto, followed by a grilled salmon.  For a reason I can’t quite explain, I now feel the summer is incomplete without the Clos Roche Blanche Pineau D’Aunis Rosé at our home.


The Pineau D’Aunis Rosé is available at KitsWine (2235 W. 4th Ave; T 604 736 7660 - website under construction). Please phone ahead to make sure there is some left.