A Blushing Beauty From Provence

The 2008 Mas de la Dame, Rosé du Mas is a delectable wine, redolent of strawberries and Provençal summers

By Nick Passmore

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One of the reasons I so enjoy les rosés de Provence is their delicacy and finesse, at least in comparison to the generally darker and heavier versions from other regions. But the wine wasn't always like this.

Strange as it may seem, these wines first registered on the wider world’s consciousness thanks to the actions of a left-wing government. I kid you not: In 1936 the socialist Front Populaire under Léon Blum enacted a law mandating two weeks' paid vacation for all French workers. Now what this has to do with the Provence rosé might seem opaque, to say the least, but bear with me. As a result of this new law, tens of thousands of northern factory workers and their families, taking advantage of their new privilege, headed off to the sunny south to discover the pleasures of ratatouille, bathing in the balmy Mediterranean and, yes, ros´ wine.

Born Again in Provence

At that time the wine I now savor for its delicacy and finesse was pretty nasty stuff; the sort of thin, watery and acidic wine that if you didn't drink ice-cold on a hot summer day you didn't drink it at all—and in truth, there is still more than a little of this kind of plonk around today.

But to a large degree Provence rosé has been reborn in the last decade or so, and there are more wines like the delectable Mas de la Dame, Rosé du Mas 2008 ($14), a wine made with care and attention as opposed to being a mere afterthought in the winemaking process.

Mas de la Dame means "Farm of the Woman" but is owned by not one but two women, Anne Poniatowski and Caroline Missoffe. Located close to the dramatically picturesque hilltop village of Les Baux de Provence just south of Avignon, the wine is made with the assistance of star Rhône winemaker and consultant Jean-Luc Colombo.

Quite delightfully quaffable, it just brims with glorious strawberry flavors—think fraise du bois in this month of strawberries, June. Not too dry, so it works well as an aperitif but with enough acidity and granular minerality to make it the perfect accompaniment to Mediterranean summer food.

And who would have thought that all this sun-splashed pleasure comes to us now, seventy years later, thanks to the actions of a socialist government in 1936? Talk about unintended consequences.

WOW Rating:

When to Drink: Now

Breathing/Decanting: Not necessary.

Food Pairing: Mediterranean food, especially grilled vegetables, pasta, and cold meats.

Grapes: 50% grenache, 30% syrah, 20% cinsault.

Appellation: Les Beaux de Provence

Region: Provence

Country: France

Price: $14

Availability: Moderate

Nick Passmore is an independent wine writer and consultant based in New York. For five years he contributed a widely read monthly wine column to Forbes.com, in addition to which his work has appeared in such publications as Forbes, Discover, Town & Country, the Robb Report, the Wine Enthusiast, Saveur, Sky, and Golf Connoisseur. He is currently Artisanal Editor for Four Seasons magazine and contributes the Nick Passmore: Wine of the Week column to BusinessWeek.com. He is also a judge at the widely respected annual Critics' Challenge wine competition.

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