The Rosé Business in Provence What is it the Long Term Viability

Recently, in Provence, there have been some substantial acquisitions in the rosé wine industry. The most famous acquisitions are LVMH’s purchase of Château d’Esclans, Château Minuty, Château de Galoupet, Domaine des Grands Esclans, and Domaine du Jas d’Esclans (!) as well as Pernod Ricard’s purchase of Château Sainte Marguerite. Still, there are many, many more acquisitions that you have been able to read about in previous blog posts.

But do these acquisitions match the prospects for rosé wine? Recently, the Provence Wine Council (CIVP) and FranceAgriMer came out with a compilation of the situation up to the consumption year 2021, i.e., up to and including the 2020 vintage, and I have critically reviewed this report which perhaps paints the situation a bit better.

Rosé in Provence Good News

Every 10th bottle of still wine opened worldwide is a rosé wine. In France alone, every third bottle is a rosé wine! France is also the largest producer, accounting for 35% of world production, followed by Spain (20%).

France is at the top with a consumption that is a third of world production. But the French do not just drink French rosé wines, the country is also a big importer, of cheaper rosé wines much of which come from Spain. So, probably not surprisingly this is unpopular with wine producers in France and in the L’Occitane region in particular.

The Less Rosé News

After a 10-year upward trend in consumption, the rosé wine market dipped in 2020 and 2021. This is likely a result of Covid-induced restaurant closures. In addition, since 2018 there is also a large overproduction of rosé wine.

While we can’t predict the future of rosé (or other) wine consumption it is clear that the Provence Wine Council’s (CIVP) is paying attention and taking steps to stabilize market trends. For additional detail and the graphs please click here for Göran’s original article.

Guest Writer:

Göran Boman, the author of The Wines of Provence – Tricolour, is based in Sweden, far from Provence’s vineyards. His studies at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology led to a career with large international companies. Before retiring, Göran monitored the quality of nuclear fuel transmitted from EDF France to Sweden.

About 25 years ago, he joined Munskänkarna (“Cup-bearers”) for wine tastings and education. The association is the world’s largest non-commercial wine-tasting group with 30,000 members, mainly in Sweden and Provence.

If you love Provencal wines, his book should be an essential reading for you. Göran Boman covers 58 wine producers in his book and recommends 338 wines, not just rosé wines. Use the book as a guide to discovering these wines and their producers. His goal is to deepen your knowledge of everything worth knowing about the wines of Provence.