La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rosé 2015

It may be after Labor Day, for many of us the white shoes get put away but not the rosé.  It is such a versatile wine that pairs beautifully with food.  The Wine Wednesday post is about this lovely La Bastide Blanche Bandol.  Easily drinks like a rosé twice the price.  I found a bottle on our stay at Hawthorne in August and was again super impressed by it.  We enjoyed it on our last eve there with dinner outside under the stars.

From a little web searching on this tasty wine:  The limestone rich soils of St. Anne de Castellet provide a taut mineral framework and juicy acidity, while the high proportion of Mourvèdre in this traditional Provençal blend offers an intense fruit core of ripe strawberry laced with grapefruit and tangerine zest accented by pungent herbs and a touch of spice. This is the classic Bandol rosé by which all others ought to be judged.  

This elegant, powerful rosé comes from one of the producers who put Bandol on the map as a truly great wine region in the early 1990s. La Bastide Blanche’s success rests on extremely low yields and impeccable conditions in the cellar. 

A complex, perfectly balanced wine with lovely aromas of red-currant, peach, blood orange, rose and spice. The palate is dense with creamy berry fruit, citrus and stone flavors, ripe and full with bright balancing acidity with terrific density and length. Delicious now, this will improve over the next few years.