Les Pallières "Au Petit Bonheur" Rosé, Vin de France 2021

33% Grenache, 33% Clairette, 33% Cinsault

Daniel Brunier, the seasoned vigneron at the head of Les Pallières and Vieux Télégraphe, values authenticity like nobody else. It is a virtue that can be tasted across all his cuvées, and knowing Daniel, a prerequisite for any wine bearing his name. It is only logical for a fourth-generation vigneron running a family domaine in a place as special, and as celebrated, as Châteauneuf’s La Crau.

So several years ago, when Daniel told us he had made a rosé from the young vines at Les Pallières in Gigondas, we knew he was not messing around. He would never make a pop wine, nor follow the trend of mass-marketed rosés rooted in modern enology rather than terroir.

He chose to craft it using similar methods to how he produces his Châteauneuf blanc, pressing the grapes directly after harvest and fermenting with native yeasts in used demi-muids, with malolactic fermentation occurring naturally before an unfiltered bottling. The result has density, texture, and weight on the palate, lifted by a saline freshness. Much like a fine white Burgundy, it should not be served too cold. There is a clear sense of place, along with a clear image of the man behind it, and his values.

“Au petit bonheur la chance” as they say in France, meaning “We’ll see where luck takes us.”