Maison Boutinot Celiane Cotes de Thau Rose

SPECIAL OFFER THROUGH MAY 2026 Subject to availability The Maison Boutinot Celiane Cotes de Thau Rose brought my search for a new top value, top quality dry Provence-style rose to a close. Over the last year and a half I have sampled in excess of 300 different roses. This was just about the last one up to try and sealed the deal. I’m not complaining by the way. When I started out in the wine trade the choice of roses was almost non-existent. And what was there was pretty dire. The choice today is fairly mind blowing in comparison. Nowadays, the vast majority, aren’t an oversight or using up excess juice. They are the mainstay of many top wineries’ offerings and are just as serious as their red and white counterparts. However, marketing and trends have pushed the prices beyond what is often on offer in my world. (I don’t include the likes of Domaine Ott just for the record.) So, to find something that mimics a top shelf Provence wine at around half the price was a no-brainer for me. This wine is produced next to Lake Thau in France’s Languedoc to the west of Provence, a formerly volcanic region just inland from the sea. Why am I telling you these picture postcard details? Because they have a relevance to the finished wine. There is a particular micro-climate here due to the close proximity to water. It moderates the effect of the Mediterranean climate and allows optimal ripening whilst retaining natural acidity. Crafted from a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Cinsault, ala Provence, it has juicy flavours of tangy raspberry, a touch of strawberry and soft, slightly creamy, currant flavours whilst remaining bone dry. On the paleness side of things, it’s about as light as they come. It also avoids the unripe grapefruit notes that I tend to get in a lot of Provence roses in the same price ballpark. An all round masterpiece at about half the price of your Quietly Spoken Cherub and the like. It goes against what I usually espouse, but at last you can have both quality and quantity! I really can’t recommend this highly enough for your summer sipping.