“Most of Provence’s rosé is as dreary to drink as it is pretty to look at.”
Thus wrote the British wine writer Andrew Jefford in his great book The New France. If this seems controversial, it shouldn’t.
What great wine (let alone rosé) needs is balance, which is to say ripeness matched by energy, by acidity. Cool climates (the north) tend to emphasize acidity. The warmer, southern climates, well, as a general rule they tend to be more geared towards red wine, emphasizing sun, as it were, and in the case of Provence: beauty, tourism, “garrigue” and beautiful mansions with infinite pools surrounded by lavender and thyme for Brad Pitt and his cohort(s).
Today we turn the focus north, to an extraordinary and serious wine that, for better or worse, also happens to be a rosé (sort of).
We write “for better or worse” because rosé, though back in fashion, has been so successful that the genre has started corrupting itself: quality has dropped while quantity has skyrocketed.
We write “(sort of)” because this is not really a rosé: It’s “Vin Gris,” which is the old school, bad-ass form of rosé.*
Still, if you’re looking for just an easy-going, ultra-refreshing summer rosé, then très bon, grab yourself as much as you can because this is going to retail just over the $20 mark. Email us at orders@vomboden.com – we can help you find the wine.
But if you want to go deeper, this wine also satisfies the more cerebral drinker. Camille Migot is a serious winemaker doing all the right things (organic and bioD viticulture, hand-harvesting, natural ferments) in virtual obscurity in the Lorraine. The appellation is called Côtes de Toul, a tiny 100-ha AOC chock-full of Kimmeridgian limestone and all the finesse that implies (check out the map above – we’re talking near “Vins de Moselle” and now maybe you begin to understand why we’re here).
What makes this wine extraordinary is the density of the palate. Less floral and aromatic, the wine is more reserved, more mineral, almost waxy, as if minerals and acidity had been woven together to create the very texture of the wine. It is direct, linear, structured. Yes, for the rosé drinker the wine is dusted with crushed red fruit, and that too is woven into the wine, but it’s not a sticky or candied or cloying red fruit – it is fresh.
This is, for me, the greatest “Vin Gris” Camille has ever made. The rhapsodizing about vintage 2019 already coming out of Europe seems to hold true for this wine at least: concentration, but also an amazingly sculpted and vigorous acidity.
So, happy-go-lucky rosé by the case-load? Yes. More serious, structured “skin-contact” white? Yes again. Also feel free to check out Camille’s other wines – Pinot Noir, Gamay and Auxerrois of uncommon righteousness – all are listed below.
Support the small growers in parts unknown not only because they are helping to make our wine world more diverse and fascinating, but also because, well, Camille Migot’s wines are worth every penny.
More information below. Please email orders@vomboden.com
2019 Camille Migot Vin Gris Rosé ~$21-$25
* “This ‘Vin Gris’ is the old school, bad-ass rosé.” What we mean here is that “Vin Gris,” which literally translates as “gray wine,” is likely one of the first descriptions used in the wine world to suggest a category of wine that is both “rosé,” as it is used to take the color from the skins of the grapes, but also “orange wine,” because a “Vin Gris” also uses the skins for structure, for phenolic grip – albeit more delicately than the more structured white wines we’ve come to think of as “orange.” 50% Pinot Noir / 50% Gamay – intellectual and seductive – see email above.
2019 Camille Migot Auxerrois ~$21-$25
Auxerrois is, in many places, used interchangeably with Pinot Blanc, though here, my understanding at least, is that this is a unique variety. In any event, the similarities are very real: Migot’s Auxerrois is broader and more plush, great citrus and herbal qualities, marine acidity. Great dry wine with a little more push. *LIMITED – 21 bottles available so good luck!
2019 Camille Migot Gamay ~$26
This is not Beaujolais; Migot’s Gamay is airy and bright, with taut red fruits that are brightened even further by details of citrus. Very linear and even a touch austere, this is for Gamay freaks.
2019 Camille Migot Pinot Noir ~$30
This is not Burgundy. As with the Gamay above, Migot’s Pinot Noir is both lighter, brighter and more linear than nearly any other Pinot Noir we’ve had. It has something in common with the Coteaux Champenois Pinot Noirs, yet still, it is not as dense and dark-fruited as these. Its core is brighter, with great woodland fruit and soaring form.