Is Provençal Rosé the vinous equivalent of bottled sunshine? Is it the what's what of pink wines? Is it the cool, crisp compelling glass of vin rosé at the end of the rainbow? Yeah, probably so! Domaine Houchart Côtes de Provence Rosé is among our favorite of the Provençal rosé wines each year. Fresh, bright, vivid with a gentle intensity of chalky berry flavor just bursting forth and a refreshingness that is just, ahhhhh ... Thank heaven for sunshine! Thank heaven for Provençal rosé!

50% Grenache Gris, 20% Grenache Noir, 20% Carignan, 5% Cinsault and 5% Mourvèdre; let's call it light peach skin-pink in color with just fermented aromas hinting at yeasty crushed red berries and an underlying minerality; nervy and vivid on entry, delicately glycerol mid-palate feel then crisp, refreshing and invigorating with fresh powdery berry flavors on to the finish. Let the rosé season begin!

Jean-Maurice Raffault is the 14th generation of Raffault family owning vineyard and growing vines in the Chinon appellation. His excellent Chinon Rosé is produce of Cabernet Franc grapes planted across 10 hectares of sand and gravel soils at Savigny-en-Veron. The domaine practices lutte raisonée (sustainable) viticulture — the soils are either ploughed or planted with grass and no chemical fertilizers or herbicides are used. To enhance the wine's freshness, it is vinified using ⅔ pressed and ⅓ saignée juice. Fermentation is carried out at low temperature with native yeasts, and the wine is bottled in March following the harvest to preserve the bright and spicy red berry fruit. Most distinctive among our selection of rosé wines, its particular minerality, currant fruit and notes of pepper give it away as Loire Valley Cabernet Franc. Medium-bodied, classically dry, but not too much so. And a most pleasant change from the numerous selections from further south.