renowned owners, stars with a visionary palate, fine flower of oenologists, they are listened to, respected, their production rewarded. Who are these rosé wine players who dominate both their subject and the sector?
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Portrait of Sacha Lichine. DR
The castle of Esclans of Sasha Lichin
For lovers of Bordeaux, the name of Lichine is forever associated with Château Prieuré-Lichine, in the Margaux appellation. However, it was after the sale of the property that Sacha Lichine discovered Provence. looking
estate, he visited several before setting his sights on the Château d’Esclans in 2006. An acquisition that would propel him to the helm of a real success story thanks to an intuition: rosé is the color of the future for wine
in the USA. “A light, easy-drinking wine that brings back good memories to those who have spent their holidays on the Côte d’Azur. »
However, there is no question of being content with producing a low-end wine. Thanks to the advice of the oenologist Patrick Léon, who was director of Château Mouton Rothschild, Sacha Lichine produces a rosé with multiple qualities, in his eyes, and above all very pale. This will be the birth of the Château d’Esclans cuvée, then of Garrus, the top-of-the-range cuvée, aged in wood. “With Patrick Léon, we were inspired by Burgundian winemaking methods and took the risk of developing a rosé that could not please everyone. » A successful bet for the new player in rosé wine, who will himself play the role of salesman by going door-to-door in the great restaurants of New York first, then in Chicago and Miami where his wines are a hit. .
At the same time, this new player in rosé wine created a trading cuvée, Whispering Angel, which even became the best-selling French wine in the United States. This single cuvée is thus produced in 12 million bottles… Since 2019, Moët Hennessy, the wine and spirits branch of LVMH, has become the majority shareholder of the company. Enough to accompany new projects, with two less expensive rosés intended for the Anglo-Saxon markets.
Portrait of Brad Pitt. DR
The castle of Miraval of brad pitt
Who could have imagined one day seeing Brad Pitt, more accustomed to red carpets, transforming into a model winemaker? However, this is what happened when, with his wife Angelina Jolie, he bought the Château de Miraval in 2011 for 35 million euros. An area of then 600 ha (against nearly 1,000 today), including fifty vines in the town of Val, near Correns, in the Var. A few years and a divorce later, only Brad Pitt remains on the property, where he still produces rosés, thanks to the wise advice of the family that owns the Château de Beaucastel, in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation.
Seduced by the potential of the estate, which has been organic for around forty years, Marc Perrin joins forces with Brad Pitt and takes charge of the production, distribution and marketing of the wines, receiving 50% of the estate’s shares, the profits being shared equally. The first vintage was released in 2012 and the success was immediate. In the process, Miraval is the first rosé wine to enter the list of the 100 best vintages of the year of the Wine Spectator, the leading American magazine.
The first 6,000 bottles, put up for sale online, are sold out in… 5 hours! Since then, Brad Pitt has not missed an opportunity to highlight the wines of his estate. The Muse de Miraval cuvée, named the world’s best rosé of the year by Wine Spectator, will be launched at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Read also: Viticulture: The Terroirs and Winegrowers Cooperative of Champagne
Portrait of Ravi Viswanathan. DR
Grover by Ravi Viswanathan
It was at the age of 1 month that Ravi Viswanathan joined France and his father, Franco-Indian and professor of literature. A childhood that he spent between the DOM-TOM, the metropolis and former French colonies in Africa, over the mutations of his father. After studying engineering and X-Ponts, he became an investment banker, « a bit by accident », he acknowledges. In 2011, with two friends, he decided to go into investment by setting up several funds in Singapore.
One of them is focused on wine. “In the mid-90s, I discovered that India produced wine and it wasn’t bad! » With his fund, the new player in rosé wine then gradually took control of the Grover company, founded in the 1960s by the father of Indian viticulture, who was then advised by the famous French oenologist Michel Rolland. Alongside the many vintages of Grover (even a late harvest), Ravi Viswanathan imposes the production of rosés to meet the expectations of new consumers. “Production is still small, around 10% of the 500 ha that we operate directly or through trading, but it is constantly increasing. »
Rosés quite far from Provençal standards, with a more sustained color, but above all a greater residual sugar to associate with spicy Indian cuisine. A gastronomy that is found all over the world, which allows Ravi Viswanathan to export 15% of his production to 25 countries, including France. As for the future, it too looks rosy with an increase in consumption of 30% per year.
Portrait of Laurence Berlemont. DR
The Provençal agronomy office of Laurence Berlemont
Miraval, Margüi, Sannes, Fontenille, Chausse, Estoublon, Bel Air… The references of Laurence Berlemont, within the Cabinet d’agronnomie provençale, evoke more a worldly address book than a list of winegrowers. It must be said that they all belong to wealthy customers, more or less known. Far from being a simple oenologist, the young woman is above all a real adviser, taking care of the vines while the owners find a manager, but above all by accompanying them in the development of tailor-made cuvées. “Working with rich and famous people, who have the means to match their ambitions, offers great creative freedom. Without losing sight of the financial balance. » Nothing, however, predestined her to become a key figure in wine in Provence.
Passionate about biochemistry, she dreamed of being a researcher at the CNRS, before joining the Paris-Grignon school of agronomy, which has since been absorbed by AgroParisTech. It was his meeting with Denis Boubals, a figure in world viticulture in the early 90s, that would be decisive. The one who does not drink wine then reorients herself and rushes into this sector « where women were not hired at the time, because they turned the wine around in the cellar », laughs Laurence Berlemont.
For the past few months, she has also claimed herself as the « George Clooney Farmer » at the Domaine du Canadel, among the thirty properties it accompanies or the Vignerons de Correns cooperative. Always campaigning for organic or even biodynamic viticulture.
Portrait of Valerie Rousselle. DR
The Roubin castle of Valerie Rousselle
The native of Saint-Tropez did not imagine herself as a tireless ambassador of rosé from Provence. She then worked for the Barrière group in Deauville when she visited the Château Roubine, in the Lorgues valley. Love at first sight is immediate for the 130 ha of the estate, including 72 ha of vines in one piece. Valérie Rousselle then drops everything and the one who knew nothing about the vine resumes viti-oenology studies in Suze-la-Rousse and becomes unbeatable in ampelography. With the wines of this classified cru of Provence, Valérie Rousselle and her husband, Philippe Riboud, Olympic fencing champion, realize their dream.
For almost thirty years, the owner has traveled the world to praise the merits of her wines, of course, but more collectively of the wines of Provence. In 2008, she also created the association Les Éléonores de Provence, which brings together around thirty women, mainly winegrowers, who promote the regional art of living and practice sorority, a new concept in the world of wine. “I launched this association in order to prepare for the future, to pass the baton to the new generation and to succeed in the transmission. »
And since the promotion of rosé from Provence never stops, Valérie Rousselle also created the International Organization of Rosé, which brings together professional players in the sector, and launched Rosé Day in 2018. Every fourth Thursday in June, this international day aims to promote rosé, wherever it comes from. « The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams », is used to saying the sexagenarian dynamic whose three children work at the property.
Read also: Bordeaux wine out of the ordinary
Portrait of Richard Balfour-Lynn. DR
Hush Heath Vineyard of richard Balfour-Lynn
Producing rosé wine in England? This is the goal set by the founder of the Hôtel du Vin and Malmaison groups. It all started in 1986 when Richard and his wife, Leslie, were looking for their future family home. Their choice is Heath Manor, a vast Tudor residence in the heart of Kent. A few years later, they bought several hundred hectares and Leslie suggested that he plant their own vineyard, called Hush Heath. Nothing to discourage the entrepreneur.
For the first harvest, in 2004, they produced 10,000 bottles of sparkling Balfour Brut Rosé, which would be the estate’s only cuvée for the first ten years and would receive numerous awards. The one who, in 2011, announced to the magazine Decanter that« there isn’t really a future for still wines in England » has since changed his mind. The vineyard has grown, new grape varieties have been planted and the range has expanded to offer reds, whites and rosés.
In 2018, this new player in rosé wine even teamed up with former cricket champion Ian Botham to produce a cuvée that brings together the two names. The wine, pale as a rosé from Provence, is a blend of the emblematic grape varieties of Champagne (chardonnay, pinot noir, meunier blanc and gris) which are used to make sparkling house, but also of a red hybrid variety, the regner.
Portrait of Gerard Bertrand. DR
The Gerard Bertrand group of Gerard Bertrand
When he took over the reins of the family business, the former captain of Stade Français certainly inherited vines, but it is thanks to his talent, his tenacity and, above all, his vista that he is today at the head of a veritable Languedoc empire. About fifteen châteaux and estates, hundreds of hectares of land owned – cultivated biodynamically –, a flourishing trade… his name appears on several tens of millions of bottles produced each year. Figures that make your head spin, but not that of Gérard Bertrand, who keeps his feet on the ground.
He who tirelessly travels the world to promote Languedoc wines is also one of the most renowned winegrowers. The British Magazine The Drinks Business has just named him best winemaker of the year from a panel of 100 big names. And its rosés are not to be outdone, since three of its cuvées received a gold medal at the 2022 world rosé competition, including Hampton Water 2021, produced in collaboration with Jon Bon Jovi. As for its Clos du Temple, already known to be the most expensive rosé in the world, the 2019 vintage is one of the best rosés for several years in a row.
Read also: The vineyards of Provence attract the Hollywood jet-set
