Château Sainte Marguerite: Why this expensive rosé might just be worth the price

Surely the main purpose of rosé wine is to enjoy it chilled, while sitting on a veranda overlooking the garden or a beautiful sunset.

If you can manage to sip your rosé under a sun shade by a pool, even better, but essentially rosé has become a fun wine, for lunches, weddings and parties – or so I thought.

That was before I was whisked off to La Londe in Provence to be woken by a 4.30am alarm call and driven, before dawn, to a vineyard where the grapes were about to be picked.

Through the morning twilight, I could see a large grape picking machine and my heart sank a little. I was visiting Château Sainte Marguerite, in the Côtes de Provence area, a property known for its excellent, but expensive wines.

I had imagined that these precious grapes would be hand-picked by a bunch of people who would toil up and down the rows all day, gradually bringing the harvest in.

Olivier Fayard, managing director of Ch. Ste. Marguerite explained. “The quality of harvesting is vital in making quality wines. Feel just how cool it is now,” and he was right.

I was wearing a coat to keep warm. Later in the day the temperature would rise to around 30 degrees, but now, in the early light of dawn, those grapes were perfectly chilled, and so was I.

Even so, I have seen mechanical harvesters pick grapes before and they end up with a mass of juice, skins and pips, but not with this machine.

“This is the latest kind of grape picker,” explained Olivier. “It gently shakes the grapes from the vines which means that whole, undamaged grapes fall into the hopper. There is no oxidation of the juice.”

Sure enough, I inspected the grapes as they were off-loaded from the picker and they were the best, clean, newly picked grapes I have seen with no random leaves or twigs in the batch.

By 6.30am, the sun was already up, the vineyard was all picked, and the grapes were off to the winery. With a short break for coffee and croissants, it was time to see the grapes crushed and start their process into wine.

Ch. Ste. Marguerite is one of the few properties that was given Cru Classé status in 1955 because of its location and soil. This was long before the Fayard family bought the estate.

Olivier’s parents, Brigitte and Jean-Pierre Fayard arrived in 1977 and bought the 3-hectare property as a holiday home. They started making wine, which sold out every year, so gradually they bought more parcels of land, expanding the estate to more than 200 hectares.

Their two sons, Olivier and Enzo grew up surrounded by vines and wine and eventually took over the running of the vineyards and winery.

From the start, sustainability has been at the heart of this estate, and it was certified organic in 2003.

Once back in the winery, it was clear to see just how much detail goes into making this wine. The Grenache grapes I had seen harvested were already in the press by the time I had finished my brief breakfast.

They had been chilled and macerated for a short time to allow the colour to be extracted from the skins, then gently pressed.

Only the first pressing juice goes into the main wines while the rest is sold to other producers.

“The temperature of fermentation is very important. Too high and the fermentation goes too fast; too low and there is lots of fruit but not enough texture,” said Olivier.

Now the estate has grown, Olivier and Enzo are able to build complexity into the wine by blending wines from different soils.

Maps showed exactly where clay gives way to schist which add different characters to the wines, and most of Ste Marguerite’s wines are blends incorporating Vermentino, locally known as Rolle, with Cinsault.

Just three years ago, the estate joined forces with one of the big wine companies, Pernod Ricard which has given the Fayard family the chance to concentrate on winemaking, while the new partners have the sales force to get the wine to market.

They have also expanded their vineyard area to over 500 hectares.

What makes this wine so expensive? It is difficult to actually add up all the extras in the process of making this wine, but time and attention to detail all cost money.

What this wine shows is that rosé can be so much more than a simple quaffing wine. Because of all the steps in the process, there are extra layers of flavour, and in particular, more texture in the glass.

This is a wine to accompany food, and I can verify that the wines from Ch. Ste. Marguerite go really well with fish and seafood, such as grilled lobster and salmon. Even a flavourful bouillabaisse partnered the wine to perfection.

Only one of the wines from Ch. Ste Marguerite, known as Les Fantastiques is available locally. Hic! in Ledston has the 2023 vintage which is drinking really well now, priced £40.

It is delicate and pale in colour but gathers together peach and strawberry aromas, with tropical fruit and crisp white peach flavours backed by a streak of freshness and minerality.

There are other up-market Provence rosé wines that are well worth exploring.

Ch. Galoupet is also within the coveted Côtes de Provence area, it is also 100% organic, and it is now owned by the large, quality wine empire of LVMH.

With local grape Tibouren in the mix as well as some time in barrel, this is a more structured, food-friendly wine with a definite savoury streak on the finish.

Ch Galoupet 2024 is available from Majestic at £47 on a mix six deal.

G de Galoupet is a new addition to the range, using some non-estate grapes, but still made to the highest organic standards.

There is no oak in this wine and the fruit shines out with sun-ripened apricot and red fruit notes. Harrogate Wines has the new 2024 vintage at £26.99.