2019 Chateau Montaud Rosé (3L Box)

 

2019 Chateau Montaud Rosé (3L Box)

Vintage: 2019

Region: Côtes de Provence AOP, France
Winery: Chateau Montaud

Varietal: Rosé blend. In this part of the world, usually dominated by Grenache

Price: $29.99 from a local wine shop

Expert Rating: 89

My Rating: 87

The Review: To box, or not to box. That is the question, isn't it. We'll cover two big concepts in wine during this blog: what is rosé and also is boxed wine good. Let's jump in.

What is rosé? Many people will answer that it's red and white wine mixed together. And while they'd be correct on certain occasions (it's rare), the vast majority of rosé is produced in a method called "short maceration." See, red wines get their color from the skins. These wines are always fermented with the skins (macerated), allowing for lots of rich color and tannins. If you want to make a really fruity and light wine that presents lots of red grape flavors, you can do this short maceration method. In this method, you use red grapes and only let the skins sit with the wine for an hour or two. This gets you the classic pink color without all of the tannins. So, in a literal sense, rosé is just red wine that was barely fermented in contact with the skins. The problem with this (why you don't often see famous rosé) is that this often leads to one dimensional and very simple wines. They're usually very fruity and fun, but don't evoke lots of thought. So, there ya go! That's my one-paragraph, oversimplified explanation of rosé.

On to the next question: Is boxed wine good? Maybe I should amend my question to: Can boxed wine be good? Yes, it can. It's got a long shelf life (up to a month after opening), it's much more environmentally conscious, it's oftentimes cheaper than buying by the bottle, and a lot of times it's pretty good wine. Lots of people think that boxes and cans are the future of wine! However, like lots of things in wine, it's reputation/potential has been trashed. In this instance by a famous F-word brand... We'll see if it can ever really recover.

Today's wine, the Chateau Montaud Rosé, comes from the most famous rosé region in the world- Côtes de Provence. This particular wine was sold in bottles, but it suddenly skyrocketed in price. The box format that holds 3L, however, stayed cheap (if you do the math, it's about $10 a bottle). Lots of rosé from this region is pretty pricey, so this is a great option to get a taste. Let's do the review.

The nose is really lovely and fruity filled with peach, melon, strawberry jam, and orange blossom. The taste provides a burst of white peach and apricot as well as some grapefruit. This leads to a floral and mineral-driven finish. The only problem I really noticed was that it was kind of faint in both the nose and the taste. That could very well be because it was stored in the fridge, but I would not say that this wine was very pronounced either way.

Overall, this is a very solid rosé. It's everything you'd expect from this region and offers a great deal. It's fun and refreshing, great for a porch, and there's nothing like pouring a glass from a plastic nozzle.

drink what you like,

db