Château Les Valentines
Not far from the picturesque towns of Nice and Saint-Tropez, the owners of Château Les Valentines, Gilles and Pascale Pons, produce wines that reflect the summery lightness and intense sensuality of the beautiful Provence countryside.
Ever since the two owners turned their backs on the IT industry in Paris in 1997, they have dedicated their hearts and souls to the wines of Château Les Valentines. The estate is more than a century old and was recently extended by a modern building. The château and one of its wines are named after the two children Valentin and Clémentine. The former owners were so-called grape growers who sold their grapes to the local cooperative for further processing.
Rosé wines from Château Les Valentines
from Château Les Valentines
from Château Les Valentines
Located above the vast bay by La Londe-les-Maures, in the AOC Côtes de Provence, 35 hectares are planted with Ecocert-certified organic Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tibouren, Rolle, Clairette and Ugni Blanc. These are old vines at an average age of 30 years. They produce rosé cuvées such as the elegant and mineral Château Les Valentines and Le Caprice de Clémentine, its fruity and delicate little brother. The Pons family vinify a total of 75% of their grapes into rosé wines, 20% into red wine and 5% into white wine.
The vines enjoy a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea and the offshore island Hyères. They grow right at the foot of the Massif des Maures, just a few kilometres from the beaches of the Côte d’Azur. It would seem that Gilles and Pascale have perfectly captured this spirit of yearning in a glass. Their wines embody the liquid essence of this landscape and the Mediterranean climate: more than 300 days of sunshine per year, a cool blowing mistral, the Mediterranean Sea, the mountains in the background and a barren, rocky soil form a unique terroir. These conditions result in relatively low yields, but provide a much higher quality. And you can taste it. Santé!
For more details on the winery, please visit www.lesvalentines.com.
Producer
Descendientes de J. Palacios, S.L.
In the late 1990s, Álvaro Palacios came to Bierzo in search of a new challenge after having achieved great success in the Priorat. Bierzo, in the far northwest of Castilla y León, awaited him with its wild, craggy landscape where heather, rock roses and holly oaks dominate the flora, with its climatic and geological characteristics, and with the fascinating grape variety Mencía.
Maison Stéphan
Jean-Michel Stéphan has vinified more than 30 vintages of Côte-Rôtie and is one of the true masters of natural winemaking (vins naturels) in the northern Rhône region. His wines have a vibrant purity that makes them unmistakable, characterised by a balance of energy and transcendence that stems from his vision of making impeccable wines without any additives.
Paladin
The vineyards of the Paladin winery are located in the border area between the Eastern Veneto and Friuli, where wine was already being grown in Roman times. At that time, the wines of this area were shipped in amphorae from the nearby sea ports to Rome, as reported by the historian Pliny.