Wednesday Wines – Episode 122 – Elite Rosé Special

The final wine in this collection is the finest all-rounder of all. Rock Angel manages to bring freshness and poise to the party while also involving depth, gravitas and considerable length. This balancing act is extremely difficult to achieve as most roses fall into either everyday, forgettable, glugger camp or the wannabe, luxury, foodie camp.  So many wines gain bronze medal scores in my notes, making them, to all intents and purposes, vinonymous. I only look for wines of character and credibility, and 2021 Rock Angel is such a soaring success it is incredible. It embodies the Esclans no compromise ethos while stepping up the drama. It also manages to sit in the mid-twenties price zone, which is amazing given the winemaker élan involved here. It is strange how many rosé producers scrap for shelf space for their sub-twenty wines and then release super-cuvées in the fifties, completely forgetting that discerning drinkers want to spoil themselves without going nuts. This is precisely where Rock Angel hangs out, further underlining its aim to give the Whispering Angel crowd a wine to graduate to when the waiter brings your food to the table! Well done, Esclans. I don’t doubt that this is your most refined Rock Angel to date, and having tasted it on many occasions this year already, it never disappoints.