Rosé
by Jane Augustine
2025 Vin de France Rosé “Faustine”
France | Corsica
On a scorching hot day in Corsica this past month—following a bumpy golf-cart ride through Jean-Charles Abbatucci’s Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu vineyards—he concluded our visit with the welcome respite of a summery, homemade lunch. Which wine did he serve? His Faustine rosé, made from the same Sciaccarellu grapevines we’d navigated earlier. Served alongside a cold and creamy zucchini-basil soup, you’d think the wine’s qualities would crescendo there. But they continued to carry us into the main course to accompany two types of sausages: veal and lamb, one spicy, one mild. Rosés as versatile and complex as this one are staples for a summer table.
2025 Chinon “Le Rosé”
France | Loire
The sheer copper color of Baudry’s Chinon rosé may fool you into thinking you’re getting a Provençal-style rosé, but don’t let appearances deceive you. This is not your typical featherweight beach-read of a rosé. Baudry’s is gourmand and refined, a tasteful cocktail of sour peach and tart cherry with a spritz of peeled clementine. I love this rosé with anything from tomato and mozzarella panini, to buttery whitefish with al dente vegetables. The cleaner the flavors, the better, as the wine’s flinty profile deserves a similarly pure and polished companion.
2025 Collioure Rosé des Roches
France | Languedoc-Roussillon
Some rosés are white-wine like, others are more akin to a red, but the beauty of La Tour Vieille’s rosé is that it falls squarely in the middle; it’s a rosé’s kind of rosé—old-school and centrist, beaming with dark red fruit and fragrant notes of myrtle and cinnamon that make it all the more intoxicating. Collioure is a medieval seaside town in Catalonia that’s a destination not only for rosé lovers but also for artists, authors, flâneurs, and bon vivants. It makes me want to kick back with a few friends over a casual game of pétanque and eat tins of tiny fish on a pebbly beach.