Chateau D’Esclans, Whispering Angel

This is the introductory rose wine from the estate in the Cotes de Provence owned by Sascha Lichine.

Chateau D’Esclans, Whispering Angel is a beautiful light rose wine. Made with a blend of Grenache, Rolle, Cinsault, Syrah and Mourvèdre grapes harvested by hand between sunrise and noon. Small crates are used to avoid oxidation. The grapes are destemmed, slightly crushed at a controlled temperature to avoid coloration. There is no wooden fermentation or barrel storage in the process. The wine is made in steel vats.

The result is a delicate wine that is pale in colour, has an aroma which is light and elegant with a hint of strawberry and has a dry, fresh, fruitiness taste. If not drinking it on its own, this wine would be a great pairing with seafood, lightly grilled meats or summer salads.

This wine is available at Rose-wine.com or on Wine-searcher.com.

Why swirl or smell wine?

Swirling and smelling is perhaps the most crucial part of evaluating wine.

There are several reasons for swirling wine in a glass. Running it up the sides of the glass allows you to have a good look at the colour and can even tell you about the alcohol content by how the drops trickle back down. The colour of the wine gives hints to the type and quality of the grape used to make the wine.

Some wines, particularly red wine, needs to air slightly to help release their full aroma and flavour. The swirling process helps this.

Why smell wine? The obvious one is to take in all of the wines aromas. Smell and taste are very much linked and this offers you a preview of how the wine is going to taste.

Scent also helps to recognise if a wine is spoiled. A damp cardboard smell could indicate there may be cork taint or the wine is “corked”.