This month I’ve selected wines that will make great additions to your Thanksgiving feasts: Mas de Gourgonnier Rosé from Provence, and Troupis “Fteri” Rosé from Greece.
When people talk seriously about “natural” wines, Mas de Gourgonnier’s organic wines are at the top of the list. Since the eighteenth century, the Cartier family has worked their land in Provence. They also were one of the first certified organic estates in Provence in the early 1970s. Here you’ll find a direct, unadulterated connection between the land and each bottle—flowering rosemary, wild sage and juniper plus the mountain freshness of regional “mistral” are all echoed in the estate’s wines. This is a vine-growing family that doesn’t have to “sell” a natural philosophy, however; it’s simply who they are, and who they’ve always been.
The Troupis family has a long history of work in agronomy dating back to the ’70s where vines, fruit baring trees and flowers have been grown and sold from their nursery in Mantinia. As with other traditional Greek families who make wine for their own table, their efforts in the cultivation of vines naturally grew into the desire to share their passion with others.
Think Pink,
Carrie Upson
General Manager
2018 Mas de Gourgonnier Provence Rosé
About the Winery: Vineyards are surrounded by pine trees and the natural scrub (garrigue) of the south. Soils are a mix of decomposed granite and limestone, very rocky and dry. The estate makes its own compost (from cow/sheep manure) and plows between vineyard rows; beneficial herbs are planted to control pests and moderate vine growth.
About the Winemaking: This wine is a blend of 63% Grenache, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Mourvèdre, and all of the grapes are hand-harvested. Grapes are destemmed and lightly crushed, then macerated or eight to 12 hours. Juice is removed from the must (rosé de saignée) and fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks. Aged in tank. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of wildflowers, orange peel, light spice. Flavors of pomegranate and cherry jam. Silky, medium-bodied.
About the Vineyards: Troupis Winery is located in the heart of Mantinia at an altitude of 700 meters in the region of Fteri or “fern”. Tasos Troupis, supported by his children, has created a production and wine-making facility by putting to good use the experience and love he has for the vine. It is a modern family business of small capacity, as they produce and bottle wine both from their estate vineyards totaling approximately 16 acres, as well as from other local farmers.
About the Winemaking: Troupis’ crisp Moschofilero is fermented in stainless steel tank and displays the slight perfumes of the surrounding Arcadian underbrush and bramble. Rose, violets, spices and citrus fruit are wrapped in the intense acidity with which Moschofilero has become synonymous. Additonally, Agiorgitiko is sourced from the nearby Nemea region to make their fresh and lively red wines. This wine is composed of 80% Agiorgitiko & 20% Moschofilero.
Tasting Notes: The careful choice and blending of the aromatic Moschofilero grape from the Mantinea plateau and the versatile Agiorgitiko variety from the Corinthian hills produces a harmonious and complex rosé wine is rich in aromas of cherry and strawberry in the bouquet. On the palate, the crisp and lively Moschofilero is balanced by Agiorgitko’s well rounded mouth-feel.
