This rosé wine has a unique bottle to lock in delicate flavor
This bottle shows off a Vino-Lok closure, an effective way to prevent the wine's flavor from leeching out over time.
Barton & Guestier “Tourmaline” Côtes de Provence Rosé
$18.79 13% alcohol
PLCB Item #1193
Sale price through 2/25– regularly $20.79
Rosés are the most perishable of wines, whose delicate flavors and blush of color are easily destabilized by the forces of time and oxidation. Makers of rosés were among the first to adopt alternative closures for this very reason, aiming to shield their wines from both off-tasting cork taint and from the imperfect seal that can dog some natural corks. While most vintners have embraced the stelvin-lined screwcap, some premium products like this one can now be found being protected by a newer closure that shows tremendous promise: the glass Vino-Lok stopper.
Invented in 2004 by a German company, the Vino-Lok is a glass bottle stopper equipped with an inert O-ring seal that performs exceptionally well in long-term studies and has become the closure of choice for many producers of premium wines who want to avoid the failure rates of natural cork in products designed for long-term aging. The aesthetic elegance of glass on glass is not the only source of appeal; Vino-Lok stoppers can snap back onto bottles with a secure seal and make bottles more easily recyclable than aluminum-sheathed screwcaps too. Vino-Lok tops are more expensive and laborious to install than either corks or screwcaps though, which is why they are currently associated with premium wines like this dry Provence rosé from the south of France. As with many Provence wines, its subtlety and refreshment rely on fruit grown to order for rosé and picked far earlier than for red winemaking, as well as only the briefest period of skin contact with the juice before pressing. On the palate, the wine conjures the mildest of crisp fruits, such as chilled slices of peeled Asian pear or dragonfruit, with brisk acidity to refresh the senses and a bracing absence of sweetness on the tip of the tongue.
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