2017 Les Vieilles Pierres Rosé Costieres de Nimes 750 ml

When we tasted this 2017 Les Vieilles Pierres Rosé Costières de Nîmes out of the tank, we were impressed. How impressed? So impressed with all of the depth and persistence that you would expect from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape-like galet soils of Costières de Nîmes that we claimed every last drop. Now in the U.S. this new Wine Access exclusive should be your new go-to rosé for the dog days of summer and beyond. This is a fantastic wine from the rosé hotbed that Jancis Robinson MW says delivers “very polished and great value” wines.

The South of France that we visited in February was cold and blustery: not quite the sun-dappled, made-for-Instagram le Midi that dominates our collective consciousness—and definitely not what most American drinkers think of as rosé weather. But the fresh, salmon-hued wine we tasted in the cellars that day was the kind of rosé value that Wine Access clients would clamor for once the weather warmed up, and we knew it. We also knew what kind of price we could secure for our clients by taking the whole production. So with one handshake, we had a Wine Access exclusive.

One sip of the Les Vieilles Pierres Rosé Costières de Nîmes can transport you to the south of France: to the lavender-blanketed and olive tree-studded countryside of the Costières de Nîmes—the southernmost wine region of the Rhône Valley—where the Grenache and Syrah that goes into the Les Vieilles Pierres Rosé grows in clay and limestone soils just a stone’s throw from the 2000-year-old Pont du Gard. To the market at the Place aux Herbes in the walled city of Uzès, where tourists and foragers haggle over the region’s legendary truffes, and locals sit in the sun, sipping rosé and watching the day melt away.

This stunning 2017 Les Vieilles Pierres Rosé hails from an extremely early harvest and a vintage that was not only very good but very small. Low yields often mean high prices, so while it was a stroke of luck to score every bottle of such an excellent vintage, it was a near-miracle to do it at such an incredible price. This is our definition of a must-have rosé. A rich and fresh wine, with a complex mineral character that is refreshing and affordable enough to open on a whim, and interesting enough to sit and contemplate as the sun goes down. The time for this wine is right now.