Description

ABOUT THE PRODUCER:
The Château de l’Aumérade is a 400-year old estate located in in the heart of Provence. Originally belonging to the Aumerat family, the traditional Mas property dates back to the Renaissance period. In 1594, the Duke of Sully, Henry VI’s finance minister, presented the Château with a Mulberry tree and Plane trees for their luxurious gardens, as a gift for supplying the Royal Court. In 1930, a young Henri Fabre and his wife Charlotte, fell in love with the Château de l’Aumérade, with its 300 hectares of estate vineyards and purchased it from the Aumerat family. The Château was designated as a Cru Classé when the Provence appellation was created in 1955, a system classifying the wine estate rather than the vineyard area. It is one of only 18 that still remain in the designation. The Château has been handed down though the family and is currently run by Caroline Demey.

ABOUT THE VINEYARD:
The Cuvée Marie-Christine rosé is made exclusively from an 89-hectare Cru Classé parcel, located on the plains of Pierrefeu. The mineral rich terroir of red clay and limestone soils in this parcel provide good drainage and the vines receive a cooling ventilation from the salty Mistral winds blowing in from the sea just a few miles away. Château Aumerade holds the Haute Valeur Environmentale (HVE) certification, which officially recognises the environmental performance of winegrowers, including biodiversity conservation, plant protection strategies, managed fertiliser use and water resource management.

THE WINEMAKING PROCESS:
The harvest took place at the beginning of September and the grapes were immediately destemmed. The berries were gently pressed and the juice was carefully selected and cooled to 13°C. Following a static settling, fermentation took place at controlled temperatures of 15 to 18°C, in stainless steel tanks and lasted for 10 days. Racking and blending took place at the end of the year. The Cuvée Marie-Christine was named after Henri and Charlotte Fabre’s first daughter and the unique bottle shape was designed by Charlotte Fabre, herself a talented artist. She was inspired by the work of Émile Gallé, who is considered to be one of the major forces in the Art Nouveau movement.

OUR TASTING NOTES:
A lovely pale powder pink hue, with a refreshing character of ripe strawberries combined with stone fruits, classic Provencal rosé.

GRAPE VARIETY:
Cinsault 35%, Grenache 35%, Syrah 30%.