Cheap supermarket rosé wines

Choosing a rosé on the shelves Var département, Provence
This is summer, time to lower for a while your demanding requirements in terms of quality and drink lots of rosé. I never buy wine in the supermarket but I may do it in this season when I look for a cheap rosé to accommodate our appetite for cheap summer booze. This is an alternative to the bulk wine found in coops, which is also very convenient when you're in Provence, each village having its coop where rosé costs between 1,2 and 2 € a liter. In the local supermarket here in the heart of Provence in the Var département) (map), there were a few dozen rosé to choose from, most bottles costing between 3 € and 6 €, and the bottom price being 1,65 and 1,85 € if I checked well (I don't think these ones were worth trying). A quick look made me think that there could be tempting picks around the 3 € range and I bought a few bottles while visiting this supermarket. What you expect here is something reasonably drinkable, we all know we'll not have our wine of the year at that price range. But it's still hot outside at around 8 pm when you settle in a good spot under the trees for the apéritif, and as long as the wine is kept cool and is not a total crap, it'll make your party happy and contribute to a successful Provence evening. Plus, you may open a few bottles in this price bracket, it will not ruin you. I don't usually drink wine at lunch but it's hard for me not to drink chilled rosé or white in Provence in summer, so we had also some of these supermarket picks for lunch, and the result of this random check was not as bad as expected.

Rosé d'Anjou 2010 - 4,1 € This first rosé was a Rosé D'Anjou 2010 by Domaine des Trahan,; a 65-hectare estate in Anjou, priced 4,1 €. Very aromatic wine, sporting 11 ° in alcohol only, at least on the label as it tasted more like 13 ° to me. The aromas were of small red fruits type, with some light bitter something, or maybe a hint of tannic presence that I attributed to the Grolleau, the other variety behind this wine being Cabernet Franc. There's a sugary feel too, which is very common. The label says "bottled at the Domaine, 79290 Cersay by EMB44108A at 44194 Mouzillon, which is not very clear. In short, here is a relatively good-valued wine with fruity aromas. Like many of such supermarket wines, this one got a medal, a Liger d'Argent 2011" at the "Concours des Vins du Val de Loire". Languedoc Mythique 2011 - 3,75 € The second pick was this Languedoc rosé :
Mythique, Languedoc AOC 2011. The front label says élevé dans le respect de la tradition, it's not clear whether they mean the tradition before 1980 or after the 1980s', if you see what I mean. The bottle has a number : 021260 and I wonder if this really helps track the cellar life of this wine... Made from Grenache and Cinsault by Les Vignerons de la Méditerannée 11100 Narbonne, a large coop which is part of the Val D'Orbieu group. Also a relatively good value at first impression, but don't expect surprises and life in there, plus it seemed to me there was lots of SO2 here. We somehow didn't finish the bottle and it stayed in the fridge for days. The wine was a bit hot in terms of almcohol level and would maybe have fared better with other foods and chilled at a colder temperature. Rosé de Loire 2011 (Club des Sommeliers) - 2,99 € This 3rd choice was a good one, albeit again not originated in Provence. It's a "Rosé de Loire" AOC, and a Club des Sommeliers cuvée, meaning it's a selection made by Casino, the supermarket chain where I bought these wines. They have this home brand (Club des Sommeliers) under which you find many different wine appellations sourced from estates, négoce or coop. The linked page shows only their upper-tier home selection, but they have a wide range of more common appellations spread all over their wine aisle. They usually make a good job at selecting a decent average wine at bottom prices (don't expect miracles but it's usually fairly drinkable). They even had a Bandol rosé at 6,5 € under the Club des Sommeliers labelling but I didn't try it. In my former life when I still bought wine in this type of supermarkets I would sometimes choose among their brand wines. Compared to the previous wines, this Rosé de Loire is well balanced and quite enjoyable, and it didn't feel like high in alcohol (the label says 12 °). At 2,99 € this is a good compromise for an easy rosé, and I swear I'm not writing stories undercover for a supermarket chain...
The wine is made from Cabernet [Franc, I presume], Grolleau and Gamay. It's bottled by Pierre Chainier at La Boitardière 37400 (in Touraine). Pierre Chainier is a family company making wine from 4 Loire estates with a total vineyard surface of 145 hectares. Gris, Vin de Pays du Var - 1,99 € This 4 th try comes from the Var (Provence), but was not the best representative of the region, I'm afraid : awful wine, if cheaper than the others (1,99 €), with undetermined aromas, some vague and weird bitterness which was not of the desired type, the whole thing yielding a bad drinking experience. The label says "bottled by EMB 30032" for "SAS les Coteaux du Golfe de Saint-Tropez 83310 Grimaud". Don't worry, that's not a wine from Saint-Tropez, it's just a chosen name for the négoce company behind this thing : you can set up a négoce, basically name it the way you want, and bottle whatever plonk likely to make you quick money. Better buy cheap rosé in bulk from coops than this bottle, and at, say, 1,4 € a liter, you'll spare money. This wine went down the sink shortly after this try. Domaine de Loou 2011 - 2,95 € This was a better pick regarding a Vin de Pays du Var, this vintage 2011 came from the Domaine du Loou, a winery I happened to have profiled a few years ago, but of which I choose a bottle only because it was on the shelves and at the price range I was targeting. At least we have now a decent Provence rosé, which is a more logical origin when you're supposed to drink it there. Very nice rosé, also a balanced one, not overwhemingly sugary and not high in alcohol. See here the other wines made by Domaine du Loou. Coteaux D'Aix en Provence, Magnan 2011 - 3,1 € This other pick shows that you can find cheap rosé indeed (3,1 €) in a supermarket even from a renowned appellation. This is a Coteaux D'Aix en Provence AOC Chateau Magnan, La Bidoussanne 2011, Chateau Magnan being a 60-hectare winery located in Pélissanne 13330. The label doesn't say it, but you can learn from the website that the rosés there are made from Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Cournoise. The wine was not the best of this series, it was drinkable but was definitely too much like the average rosé you find everywhere, I mean borderline on the sugary feel and the alcohol level. In short, a reasonably good rosé but lacking the little something that will make you buy it again. And certainly better to go with a meal than as apéritif.

Comments

[Mike]

Nice article, Bertrand. Nice photo's too as usual. Whenever I can, I buy my 'bulk wine' directly from the coop. Many of the cheap supermarket wines are sourced in (big) bulk from the coop's so by going direct, I cut out the 'middleman' and the money goes to the coop, many of which are in straitened financial circumstances. Slightly off topic question - what is the food shown on the left-hand-side of the 4th photo, it looks like a confit of some sort?

[Bertrand]

This dish was not only appetizing-looking as you seem to have noticed it, Mike, it was a delicious home-made "poulet en gelée" (chicken in jelly) cooked mith Madeire and served cold with basil leaves, very nice summer dish...
You're right for buying in the coops (or also buying bag-in-boxes in wineries), they tend to be making better wines than a few years ago, but you need to check first otherwise you find yourself with 5 liters of unpleasant wine that you have a hard time to finish.

[Bob R.]

It's great to be able to select a sample of such inexpensive roses to try. Wish I could do the same here in the US. I do remember staying in the Var a number of years ago and buying very good rose from nearby co-ops for the equivalent of around $2. And this spring in the Ardeche we were in a large supermarket and their wine department had several dozen roses, most quite cheap, although we didn't try any. Instead we bought a case of one rose from a local coop for 3 Euros/bottle, and it was one of the best roses we had during the month we were in France.

[Mariano]

Nice post. Unfortunately, all of them are imposible to find in Spain.

Regards

[Craig]

It's funny, but I think I miss the low-cost supermarket wines such as the roses' more than the upscale wines. We've had such good inexpensive rose wines on our visits to Provence, but to import them to the States would quadruple the price. Just the other day I was thinking how I wished I had taken more photos of the interesting shaped rose bottles when we were last over there.