We consider it our duty as sommeliers to keep you well-stocked with proper rosé, especially as the Summer approaches—and by “proper” I mean rosé that’s treated like real wine, not a marketing gimmick. It helps that today’s 2019 from Domaine de la Navicelle is inexpensive—for an authentic, biodynamically farmed wine, no less—because as good as rosé can be, people don’t want to pay a lot of money for it.
We tend to forget how versatile a good rosé is with food, how transporting and “complete” they can be in communicating a sense of place; we just want something to sip by the pool. Well, I’ll tell you this: Regardless of where I’m drinking it, I want what I’m drinking to be the real deal. As we have noted many times before, Provence is arguably the rosé wine capital of the world and Domaine de la Navicelle is one of its rising stars: The estate was re-vitalized during the tenure of Jannick Utard (2006-2019), who achieved biodynamic certification for its 21 hectares of vineyards, and today a new team, comprised of viticulturist/winemakers Romain Magnanou and Alice Euvraud, continues his work. The classic Provençal mix of Cinsault, Grenache, and Syrah is a picture-perfect expression of place, a killer value, and handsomely packaged to boot! My suggestion is to stock up: Not only will you drink well, you’ll look good doing it!