The Wine... More masculine than other rosés? A weird way to carve up flavor, maybe. To employ a modicum of analytical precision, Domaine des Carabiniers Tavel rosé is more structured, darker in color, deeper, and more complex in flavor than many simple pale pink rosés. It has more red wine notes. Simply put, this is a different style of rosé, one that maybe can be served along with marginally more substantial cuisine: I find it to be particularly awesome in tandem with carnitas from my favorite taqueria. Do not be sparing with the radishes....

The History... The south of France is an ideal location for making rosé, culturally, culinarily, climatically. France makes more rosé than any other nation so there are abundant great options.  A classic rosé choice is Tavel. AJ Liebling wrote so evocatively about the experience of drinking Tavel as a young slacker in Paris that I am disinclined to attempt a further description. 

"I do not pretend to remember every price on the menu of the Restaurant des Beaux-Arts, but one figure has remained graven in my heart like 'Constantinople' in the dying Czar's. A half bottle of Tavel superieur was 3.50; I can still see the figure when I close my eyes, written in purple ink on the cheap, grayish paper of the carte. This is a mnemonic testimonial to how good the wine was, and to how many times I struggled with my profligate tendencies at that particular point in the menu, arguing that the unqualified Tavel, which was very good, was quite good enough; two cents a day multiplied by thirty, I frequently told myself, mounted up to fifteen francs a month. I don't think I ever won the argument; my spendthrift palate carried the day. Tavel has a rose-cerise robe, like a number of well-known racing silks, but its taste is not thin or acidulous,  as that of most of its mimics is. The taste is warm but dry, like an enthusiasm held under restraint, and there is a tantalizing suspicion of bitterness when the wine hits the top of the palate. With the second glass, the enthusiasm gains; with the third, it is overpowering. The effect is generous and calorific, stimulative of celebration and social instincts. 'An apparently light but treacherous rosé (Waverly) Root calls it, with a nuance of resentment that hints at some old misadventure." - Between Meals

The Estate... We have an amazing Tavel to offer, from Domaine des Carabiniers. This was the last wine I found on my 2009 wine trip to France, and it sealed the deal for me: the journey became a success. The terroir difference in rosé appellations comes into sharp focus when we taste this Tavel. The distinctly juicy style Christian Leperchois carefully crafts at his home estate in Tavel makes a statement entirely different than Provencal domaines can provide. Tavel is a rarity in that this appellation exists for pink wine alone. Many of the area's farmers also make red wine in nearby Lirac. This area is close to Avignon, a part of the Gard departement that in landscape and climate leans west toward the Languedoc.