Wine Club 22 June

Ah, how lovely! The sun’s out and the birds are tweeting. My boys’ wretched A-levels and GCSEs are finally over and, bless them, the chaps remembered Father’s Day unprompted for once. I’ve got my Ashes/World Cup cricket and Glyndebourne tickets and, well, everything seems to be coming up rosé.

And, goodness me, don’t we Brits get through a lot of the pink stuff? Sales show no sign of doing anything other than rocketing. Indeed, I understand that pink wine is still the fastest growing wine category of all. Of course, here in my home town of Brighton, we’ve been out and proud about our fondness for anything pink for yonks and knock back more than our fair share.

Yes, I know, one occasionally gets caught unawares in the pub or at a barbecue by a glass of crappy, sickly sweet, glow-in-the-dark muck, but in general the quality of pink wine is higher than ever. There are some corkers out there and many would argue that the best, the most sophisticated and most elegant come from Provence. Other wine lovers would be much more specific and say that they come from Ch. d’Esclans, the Provencal estate of Sacha Lichine who, along with his late partner Patrick Léon (former head winemaker at Ch. Mouton-Rothschild no less) has been on a simple mission: to create the finest rosés in all the world. See for yourself whether or not they have succeeded by taking advantage of the following selection courtesy of FromVineyardsDirect, whose head honcho, Esme Johnstone, has long been a vociferous fan.

The entry level 2018 Sacha Lichine Single Blend (1) is a classic Provencal blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah. It’s a delectably pale pink, crisp, clean and dry.