There are rosés, and then there are rosés.
I’m generally easy to please when it comes to rosé. It’s easy, it’s refreshing, it pairs with a lot of different food, and it’s just as lovely on its own on a sunny afternoon. The color can’t help but hint at romance, or at very least whimsy. (And a happy Valentine’s weekend to you!)
In France, Provence is the rosé capital, and their style is crisp, mineral driven, often with hints of herbs. They have an institute for the study of rosé. They’ve got it dialed in. Even those that aren’t particularly interesting are usually quaffable. (Check out previous post on Provence here and here.)
Then there are a few rosés that are a cut above; that challenge your ideas of what rosé can be; that are distinctive. Clos Cibonne’s rosés are in this camp for me, as they are quite unique. This is largely due to their obscure star grape: Tibouren. The grape is usually blended with better known Provençal grapes like Cinsault and Grenache, but Clos Cibonne became famous for putting it front and center in their reds and rosés.
Tibouren is an ancient variety and there are many competing theories on its history. Wine Grapes notes that it is said to have been introduced to the region by a sea captain named Antiboulen in the late 18th century. Over time, the word morphed into Tibouren. Jaime Goode says that it originated in Mesopotamia and it’s named for the Tiber River. He says it was imported to Italy by the Greeks, and Caesar brought it with him to France, where it became established in Provence. Others say it came from Antibes in southeastern France, but there isn’t much proof other than the resemblance of the name.
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| Map borrowed from WineFolly.com. |
Lucky for Tibouren, however, it found a champion in André Roux, whose family owned Clos Cibonne. (The family had purchased the estate from a sea captain named Jean Baptiste de Cibon generations before.) When André took over the management of the property in the 1930’s, he began converting areas of the estate that had been growing fruit and flowers, to vineyards. In the process he rediscovers Tibouren and begins to replant it on their 15 hectares of vineyards. The estate is near Toulon, very close to the ocean, and the breezes help to keep the disease pressures at bay. It’s also able to reach full maturity in the sunny mediterreanen climate. André ultimately dedicated his life to improving the vineyards and working with Tibouren.
His work earned Clos Cibonne’s vineyards one of 18 'Cru Classé' designations in the region at the time. The château also received special permission to list the grape on the label, which isn’t typical for Provence.
Tibouren tends to have very distinctive aromas with floral and berry notes, as well as earthiness and scents of garrigue. The flavors become even more distinctive in some of their rosés thanks to the process they use to make it. The wines are fermented in stainless steel and then aged in then aged in 100-year-old, 1500L foudres. They allow a layer of fleurette (aka flor, a thin veil of yeast) to form much like in fino sherry. The flor adds more layers of complexity to the flavors and textures of the wine.
As for the winery’s modern history, it passed from André Roux to his daughter Jacqueline and her husband Emile Mourchou, then onto their daughter Bridget and her husband Claude Deforge. They’ve worked hard to update the winery and renovate the cellars, while preserving their traditions.
THE WINE AND PAIRING
Today’s wine is the Clos Cibonne Côtes de Provence Tibouren Cuvée Tradition Rosé 2017. The wine is 90% Tibouren, and 10% Grenache – that splash is basically to comply with the appellation’s rules.
On the day we opened the wine, we picked up notes of stone fruits, yellow flowers, chamomile, and tangerine skin on the nose. On the palate there were notes of peach, pink grapefruit, crushed strawberries, rainier cherry, and peach blossoms. There were also more complex notes of preserved lemons, savory herbs, cloves, and hints of other earthy, exotic spices. None of these notes were overwhelming. They kind of just danced in the background, so the wine was complex, but retained a delicacy. There was a beeswax roundness to the texture, all held up by fresh acidity.
This is a wine that could work easily with lots of different dishes, but for this pairing I wanted to tease out the more exotic notes in the wine. We considered fleshier fish like trout and salmon, or shellfish like shrimp, but ultimately went with chicken. I wanted to play with big flavors like preserved lemons (which can be made or store-bought), but keep them subtle in the food as they were in the wine, so I layered them lightly through various components and I relied on citrus flavors as a framework to keep things fresh and bright.
I opted for chicken breasts and prepared them sous vide. Among the things this technique is best for, is preparing foods that are easily overcooked such as delicate fish, pork tenderloin, and yes, chicken breasts. Not going to lie to you, we kind of find chicken breasts boring around here. We’re dark meat people. It certainly doesn’t help matters that chicken breasts dry out so easily.
Prepare them sous vide and all those problems go away. You can also play around with texture and temperatures that aren’t possible when you cook them through traditional means, due to health hazards that are no longer a problem when prepared this way. However, even if the thought of eating medium-rare chicken totally grosses you out and you cook them to a more standard level of doneness, the chicken remains very juicy. I opted for a temperature just a few degrees less than what might be considered normal, and then gave the chicken breasts a good sear afterwards to add a little charred smoky flavor.
(All of that said, you can absolutely prepare this dish the old-fashioned way and I give some general instructions for doing so at the end of the recipe.)
While the chicken breasts were cooking, I had my hands completely free and decided to make a couple of sides – couscous and roasted carrots. Both were pretty simple preparations, but gave me the chance to weave in flavors in different ways.
We loved this pairing. The combination pumped up the wine and subtly brought out those exotic notes, just as I’d been hoping. The pairing amplified the stone fruit and tangerine flavors in the wine, and brought out a little hint of curry. Greg noted that it also made the wine feel more robust. My only problem was that I had to keep myself from gulping down the wine, and had to remind myself to slow down and savor it.
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| Photo credit on all of the food and wine pics to Greg Hudson. |
OTHER POSSIBILITIES
I looked at multiple suggestions when considering what to pair with this wine, a lot of which sounded delicious. The importer’s website says it makes a great pairing with red mullet fillets or tomato bouillabaisse, which I think would be fantastic. The winery’s website adds lamb curry. Elsewhere I saw green tomatoes, saffron, curry, and grilled chicken
As far as other wines to pair with this dish, I think fresher styles of orange wines (aka skin contact white wine) would be excellent here. Robust white wines with complex flavors balanced by good acidity, like white Rioja, South African Chenin, and Ribolla Gialla, could make for intriguing matches.
THE GEEKY DETAILS
Taken from the tech sheet on the importer’s website.
Grapes: 90% Tibouren, 10% Grenache
Vine Age: 30+ years
Site: Le Pradet at 50m
Soil: Schist
Farming: Practicing Organic
Vinification: Native yeast fermentations. After fermentation the wine is aged on the lees under fleurette for 1 year in 100-year-old foudres.
MONEY TALK
The SRP on this wine is $29 (the average on Wine Searcher is $27) and I think I paid just over that. I think that’s a Solid Value for a unique, carefully made wine, with so much history behind it.
