Les Quelles de la Coste Rosé IGP Vaucluse (£14.95)
The most traditional wine in Hollywood actor John Malkovich’s five-strong Les Quelles de la Coste range is a salmon-pink rosé made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in the mountain village of Lacoste in Vaucluse, where the Marquis de Sade lived, that are picked 10 days earlier than those destined for his red wines.
With its subtle notes of wild strawberry, melon and white peach, the refreshing drop is perfectly suited to sunny afternoons on the Côte d’Azur. While Pinot Noir may have been the more obvious choice for a rosé, Malkovich likes what the Cabernet brings to his pink, but isn’t ruling out the idea of making a Pinot rosé one day.
“There’s a lot of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre planted near where we are because they are heat-resistant varieties, but they’re not my thing at all. It’s just not what I like,” he told db.
In 1993 he and his partner, film director Nicoletta Peyran, bought a farmhouse in Vaucluse and the land surrounding it. In 2008 Malkovich planted his first vines on the property in deep clay soils on the site of an ancient lake.
