This wine comes to us from a blue-chip producer of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine Charvin, whose winemaking approach is ultra-traditional. Laurent Charvin is known for employing ‘whole cluster’ fermentation when crafting his wines, a practice which lends them an appealing rusticity. He also ages wines only in cement vats, not barrels, allowing the purity of his old-vine fruit to show through. A majority of Charvin’s vines are more than 40 years old, producing deeply concentrated fruit from the Châteauneuf zone’s sandy-clay soils, which are famously strewn with a layer of Rhône river pebbles known as galets.

And while this wine may be a multiple-bottle proposition, it’s not without some pedigree. It is a blend of old-vine Grenache and Cinsault harvested specifically for rosé production (as opposed to being “bled off” a tank of fermenting red), and in the same way that Charvin’s reds emphasize freshness over ponderous weight, this wine steers clear of the flabbiness that characterizes a lot of southern Rhone/Languedoc rosé. It’s juicy, sure, but with a real backbone of acid that not only maximizes refreshment but makes it a ready partner for food.