Château La Tour de l’Évêque Sainte Anne Rosé 2025, Côtes de Provence AOP, Organic

Château La Tour de l’Évêque Sainte Anne Rosé is a certified organic Côtes de Provence rosé from Régine Sumeire, one of the pioneers of the pale, elegant Provence style. Its name recalls the estate’s old pilgrimage chapel of Sainte-Anne. The grapes come from the estate’s vineyards on schist and sandstone at the foot of the Massif des Maures, and the blend is led by Cinsault and Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre and small touches of Rolle, Sémillon and other varieties. Grapes are hand-harvested and directly pressed, and the wine ferments with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel to preserve its finesse.

In the glass it is a pale peach-pink. The nose is delicate and floral, with peony, rose petal, wild strawberry and white peach. The palate is dry, fresh and elegant, with gentle red fruit, a fine saline thread and a clean, refreshing finish.

Serve at 8–10°C as an aperitif or with Mediterranean food: grilled fish, prawns, salade niçoise, bouillabaisse, tapenade, goat’s cheese or lightly spiced dishes. Château La Tour de l’Évêque Sainte Anne Rosé is best enjoyed young and fresh, within a year or two of the vintage.

Château La Tour de l’Évêque sits at Pierrefeu-du-Var, in a valley at the foot of the Massif des Maures, not far from the Mediterranean. Once church property and the summer residence of the bishops of Toulon, which gave the estate its name, it was bought by the Sumeire family in 1958. Today Régine Sumeire, a pioneer of Provence rosé, runs it with her nephew Pierre-François de Bernardi; in 1985 she created Pétale de Rose, often credited as the first of the pale Provence rosés. The estate has some 89 hectares of vines on schist and red sandstone, certified organic since 2005, with biodynamic preparations used on some plots. It is also known as Château La Tour Sainte-Anne, after an old pilgrimage chapel.