NOTICE! A rare “second chance” opportunity lies ahead: I strongly suspected we had discovered a value grail when first tasting Domaine Ray-Jane’s exceptionally rare and historic Bandol rosé, and it was universally confirmed with the 2020 release.

When we initially offered this six months ago (it has been sold out ever since), 11 Master Sommeliers and 44 Masters of Wine from Decanter Magazine’s World Wine Awards had just given it “Best in Show,” a title bestowed to just 50 of the 18,000+ bottles in attendance. Of course, that’s not why we’re re-offering the wine…although it certainly does serve as a fantastic bonus and bulletproof validation! Well before the wine was being showered with global praise, I passionately believed this was among the most complex and deliciously textured rosé bottlings in all of France. And I have no doubt that Ray-Jane’s soon-to-be-immortalized 2020 rosé will only become more expressive and layered in the years to come. So please, don’t let the pale pink hue distract from the overwhelming brilliance, depth, and 734-year history (more on that below) in the bottle. In fact, let’s temporarily ban labeling this a rosé: this is age-worthy, year-round-drinking, truly world-class wine from one of France’s elite appellations. Period. 

In the great appellations of France, it often feels as though the hierarchies are more-or-less set in stone. Each esteemed village is ruled by a few iconic classics, and it’s seldom that a completely “new” name arrives in spectacular enough fashion to upset the pecking order. Yet, that’s exactly what I recently observed in the ancient village appellation of Bandol. Before encountering this at a tasting last February, I had literally never seen a bottle of Domaine Ray-Jane Bandol in California. In France, it is recognized alongside greats like Tempier (average retail of $54, mind you!), but Ray-Jane is bottled in a much smaller volume and thus seldom makes a star turn on our side of the Atlantic. 

Of the myriad reasons today’s wine has so quickly become our “it” Bandol rosé, I want to start with its capital-H sense of history: Rare is the opportunity to experience wine from a lineage that existed during the Mongol Empire, William Wallace’s revolution, and Duccio’s renaissance painting. I’ve written before about the Chave family continuously producing wine in the Northern Rhone Valley since the 1490s—but the 1200s? Let alone in Bandol? It’s one of many reasons my colleagues and I staggered back in awe when first tasting today’s wine. If you can believe it, since 1288, each successive generation of current matriarch Anne Constant’s family has handcrafted wine from their own vines in a tiny hamlet along the Mediterranean coast between Marseille and Nice. Throughout countless invasions, revolutions, plagues, and world wars, the aptly named Constant family has farmed their vines and bottled exceptional wine without pause.

Now, if the allure of such astoundingly longstanding family tradition isn’t enough to pull you in, I must then ask you to consider the prized real estate and value today’s bottle offers. Keep in mind we’re talking about Bandol, AKA ground zero for the world’s most profound, ruthlessly in-demand, and ever-more-exorbitantly priced rosé. Few of my peers would dispute that Domaine Tempier claims the rosé crown in Bandol (perhaps all of France?), but I feel obligated to point out that today’s limited offer is (1) Certified Organic, (2) far lower in price, and (3) effectively unbeatable in terms of history and pedigree. 

Again, I want to return to my initial point about today’s offer: this is not “just a rosé.” Rather, it is a remarkably serious wine that is built to evolve and improve in a way that many regional, built-for-immediate-consumption peers would surely fail. It’s a wine whose sophistication and objectively topflight quality belies its playful complexion and extremely modest price tag. And of course, that tension, structure, and unrelenting freshness is precisely the backbone that earns this wine a renowned reputation for extended cellar aging. Believe me, when this bottle hits the 3-5 year “sweet spot,” it will blossom into an exotically textured, richly aromatic, and fascinatingly savory second life. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t urge you to drink a few right now: This is so creamy and lifted with high, sonorous notes of ripe citrus fruit, wild strawberry, crushed cherries, redcurrant, grapefruit pith, tangelo peel, and crushed rock. It’s bountifully layered and refreshing to the point where you must constantly remind yourself to slow your pace to truly enjoy each nuance...enjoy!