After two great vintage years – 2006 and 2007 – Château D’Esclans wines have received widespread attention from wine lovers worldwide

Until very recently in most countries the word “rosé” as applied to a wine was a byword for something not to be taken seriously. It usually meant Mateus Rosé from Sogrape, or something similarly sweet.

In France, and particularly in Provence, a different view has tended to be taken. France drinks its rosé dry, and without all the sugar the wines can be a revelation.

Partly, perhaps, because Provence is a popular holiday destination, and sipping a well chilled rosé by a swimming pool has become one of those experiences people returning to chillier climes like to try to relive, dry rosé is now increasingly being drunk by serious wine lovers in other countries, notably Britain and the United States.  Over the last four years sales in Britain have doubled, and – never slow to spot an export opportunity – last year, France actually made more rosé wine than white.  

Infinitely preferable, though, those wines may be to the sugar water that dominated that sector of the market for so many years, and put so many people off the idea of trying anything pink, rosé wines are still not treated with the reverence accorded to a great red Bordeaux or white Burgundy.

This is a situation Sacha Alexis Lichine is determined to change, although you might expect that he would have red Bordeaux running through his veins.

The son of the distinguished Russian born wine writer and  promoter Alexis Lichine, who also owned Château Prieure-Lichine and had an interest in Château Lascombes in the Medoc, he certainly has the lineage, but Lichine Fils, it seems, wanted to do something new.

He does however share his late father’s passion for Provence.

“Over the centuries, across customs and cultures, few places in the world have had the magic appeal of Provence. For generations it has sparked the imagination as the land of sunlit pastel water and sky, towering cliff-top villages and red clay soil,” wrote Lichine Père, and in 1999, after Sacha sold Château Prieure-Lichine – which he had inherited from his father ten years previously – it was in Provence that he started looking.

In 2006 he bought Château D’Esclans and set about turning it into a world-class contender, his stated intention being to make the world’s greatest rosé. “The world doesn’t need another red wine,” he has said,  “but this is a real chance to make an impact.”

It was the soil of which his father wrote so warmly that attracted him, and he had taken note also of Robert Parker’s observation that Côtes de Provence enjoyed France’s most undervalued terroir. It is also, says Lichine “the best rosé wine making area in the world”.

In the Château D’Esclans vineyard that terroir is varied, ranging from chalky-clay slopes to sandy gravels. The Estate comprises about 267 hectares of which around 44 are under vine.

Of that area about 47% is planted with Grenache, 17% with Syrah (Shiraz), 12% with Rolle, 8% Cinsualt, 8% Mourvedre, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Tibouren. Some of the vines are as much as 80 years old, and the grapes are harvested and sorted by hand.

Lichine wasn’t taking any chances on the wine making either. Apart from spending €3.5 million on the vineyards and cellars, which are equipped with individually temperature controlled wooden barrels, he engaged Patrick Léon as his winemaker.

Léon spent 23 years making Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Clerc Milon and Château D’Armailhac as well as being involved in Opus One and Almaviva. He is, as Lichine says, one of the leading oenologists in the world.

Luck has played its part however. The château enjoyed excellent vintages in both 2006 and 2007 – without some of the technology in the first year – and the wines went out into the world to critical acclaim.

“Delicious,” proclaimed flying winemaker Michel Rolland. “I really enjoyed myself with the rosé in wood, because hardly anyone knows that roses are sometimes raised in wood…I have truly enjoyed these rosés. There is a freshness, an aromatic intensity, absolutely delicious.”

Robert Parker tried three of the four wines from the chateau – all rosés – and pronounced them “dazzling”, singling out Whispering Angel as the best buy, but registering shock at the prices for Les Clans and Garrus –  US$69 and US$99 respectively in the United States.

“The prices for the top two cuvées are mind boggling,” wrote Parker. “It makes 2006 Bordeaux futures look like a bargain.”

That of course is Lichine’s point. If the wine is as good as this, just because it is rosé it doesn’t have to be cheap.

There is one other cuvee, called simply Esclans, and at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s inaugural Wine Fair in August I had a rare opportunity to taste all four of the wines side by side.

“At Château D’Esclans,” proclaims Lichine of the entry level wine, “angels whisper. If you drink this wine you might hear them.”

Well, maybe, maybe not, but you will almost certainly enjoy drinking it. A blend of Grenache, Rolle, Cinsault, Syrah and Mourvedre, the wine is made without barrel fermentation to retain its fresh fruity quality. The result is an impeccable Provence rosé.

Esclans is made from only Grenache – 39% of it from the 80-year old vines – and Rolle, and Lichine’s remark on this, coming from a man who has done more than his share of professional wine tasting, is far more pertinent.

“Once you put this in your mouth you have to drink it. I’m not going to spit this one out.”

Les Clans is the first of the two wines with a price that shocked Parker. Again it is made from Grenache and Rolle – 48% of the former from the 80 year old vines – and Lichine likens it to a good Burgundy, suggesting that it might benefit from a little bottle ageing.

There is no modesty whatsoever in his evaluation of Garrus, made entirely from 80-year old Grenache and Rolle.

“This just lingers on your palate, it’s the greatest rosé that has ever been made,” he says.

He may be right. I’ve certainly never tasted a better pink wine. On the other hand, wonderful though it is, it is not so very dramatically better than its more modestly priced cousins.

After the Garrus, Alain Rivière – who was representing Lichine at the fair and presenting the wines, alongside 30 or more other international rosés on a stand organised by Cathay Pacific wine consultant Roy Moorfield – suggested I try the Whispering Angel again to see if I liked it as much as I had before trying the others. I did. A choice between five bottles of Whispering Angel and one of Garrus would not be that easy to make. And Whispering Angel is rather easier to find.