A fail-safe rosé for the summer

published 9 June 2017

2016 Chteau Saint Baillon Ros, Rserve du Chteau, Ctes de Provence, France (£10.95, bottle; £24.40, magnum; £65, double-magnum, Goedhuis.com).

There are a few French estates that make great inexpensive wine year in, year out. This is difficult to do given the vagaries of the seasons. I love Fred Filliatreau's Saumurs (Yapp.co.uk) the Loire is a tricky region for reds in cooler years, but he always pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Daniel Dampt's Chablis (HHAndC.co.uk) are also impeccable, even in awful years I have bought every vintage for two decades! On the high street you can rely on Louis Jadot's Beaujolais-Villages (Waitrose.com) and the superb Chapoutier Ctes-du-Rhne Bellruche (Majestic.co.uk) is always a pleasure.

But the summer is upon us, so is there a fail-safe ros out there? The answer is yes, one. For as long as I can remember, Saint Baillon has nailed it every single vintage. The price is still tiddly, the larger formats hilarious and the flavour has never been better than in 2016. I was afforded a pre-release screening by the great Johnny Goedhuis and this wine took my breath away with its haunting, cherrystone-scented nose and silky-smooth, sea-spray-kissed palate. This is a very rare beast a truly delicious, unbelievably reliable and yet eminently affordable French classic.

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Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.