Château Guilhem Prestige AOC Malepere Rosé 2016

This wine is a serendipitous find for Oddbins and a lovely drop it is too. It is the sister wine to Château Guilhem Cuvée Prestige Rouge, which was suggested to us via The Listing (where you can recommend wines for us to stock that you have discovered on holiday). Where the Prestige Rouge is full-on and chocolatey, the rosé is a delicate flower, with aromas of rose hip, wild strawberries and white peaches. Made entirely organically, this is an all-natural discovery. Happy days.

A family estate since 1878, six generations have given influences and added different techniques to the process used at Château Guilhem over the years. From the 1850s, big 24,000 litre oak barrels were built in the cellar by Bertrand's great-great-grandfather; in the 1920s his great grandfather introduced concrete tanks for big quantities of high volume wines; and, during the 1970s his grandfather introduced stainless steel tanks in smaller volume, to produce more quality wines. In 2005, with his daughter (Bertrand’s mother), he removed all the old vines, replanting with Atlantic grapes such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, which are more acclimatised to the Malepère terroir.

From 2009, they have produced grapes using ‘reasonable’ agriculture, which means that they don’t use pesticides and herbicides. They are also now certified organic. Bertrand, who is the winemaker as well as the owner, is influenced by his history at the Château, and by his oenological studies. So, he makes wine that is a combination between tradition and modernity and which respects the environment.

Grapes are produced according to organic farming principles and, in the cellar no chemicals are used. It is as much as possible a natural process, with natural fermenting at a low temperature, to retain the maximum aromas, in concrete tanks for a relatively brief amount of time.

The juice is run off after limited contact with the skins, early in the morning when temperature is still cool.Fermentation then takes place in stainless steel, thermos-regulated tanks to preserve aromas.

The colour is pale pink, with hints of terracotta. On the nose there are floral scents, white peaches and ripe red berries. It is refreshing and dynamic mouth, well-balanced, with subtle lasting notes of strawberries.