Chivite Colección 125 Rosado 2023

The Chivite family were making ambitious rosé in DO Navarra long before the style was fashionable, and Colección 125 Rosado is their flagship example. It blends Garnacha and Tempranillo grown in northern Spain, where a continental climate with cold nights and warm days gives ripe fruit with firm acidity. The wine is set apart by its method: rather than a quick cold ferment, it is fermented and then aged for around ten months in French oak barrels. Barrel fermentation and lees ageing build texture, a creamy weight and a slow oxygen exchange through the wood, giving the rosé the structure and ageing potential of a white wine while keeping a pale salmon colour. This is a rosé made to sit at the table and to develop in bottle. The colour is a clean, bright salmon. The nose shows cherry and red berries with white peach, citrus peel and a faint almond and floral note from the oak. The palate is dry, textured and savoury, with fresh acidity carrying a long, mineral finish. Serve at 10 to 12 degrees in a white wine glass. It suits roast poultry, fish and richer dishes.