If you ever find yourself in Haux, a tiny hamlet about half an hour from Bordeaux city, you should pay a visit to our friends at Château Lamothe. For the company, for the generous home cooking (veal chops smoked over vine cuttings, anyone?), but mostly for the wines — top quality but at prices almost too good to be believed.

There’s of course a Merlot-dominated red blend, and a Sauvignon Blanc-based white wine. Most impressively, these Bordelais have crafted a gorgeous rosé — a pale pink, just a shade darker than most Provençal iterations, but rife with the flavors of Cabernet Franc and that inimitable Bordeaux terroir of limestone and gravel.

You don’t see too many all-Cab Franc rosés. Chinon producers like Olga Raffault and Bernard Baudry make highly sought-after versions, but they're fast to sell out.

This particular grape is used to make wines that are refreshing, lightly aromatic and pleasantly herbaceous.

In rosé form? There are flavors of sour cherry, fresh strawberry and crisp minerals. This is our favorite style of pink wine: light, charming and invigorating. Wines that can be drunk on their own or paired with chilled seafood, salads or hors d’œuvres.

So when the lovely people at Château Lamothe offered us a substantial amount of their ‘Miette’ rosé — a wine named after the equally charming matriarch Camille — we bought up all we could. Partly so we could drink it all summer long, but mostly so we can offer it to you today. 

Château Lamothe, Miette Bordeaux Rosé, 2020