Chateau D'Esclans is famous for its flagship rosé called Whispering Angel. The figures are unrelenting: the Whispering Angel label constitues about 96% of wine production at Chateau D'Esclans. More than 8 million bottles are marketed annually. This label is exported to 107 countries worldwide.

And how did this wine become a recognizable symbol of Provence and one of the most popular rosés in the world?

Provençal wine with a name written in English... Whispering Angel easily stricks in your memory; nowadays, English is a kind of "lingua franca" so the label can be read easily by consumers across the globe. However, one should know that the name was inspired by a 19th century relief located on the wall above the chapel altar within the castle. At the very beginning when Sacha Lichine took over the estate and vineyards, the wine was made under the label Chateau D'Esclans. However, the name was soon changed in line with Sacha's vision of expanding into the world market. Everything else is history ...

It is astonishing that Chateau D'Esclans manages to maintain quality of its wines despite exponential growth of production year after year. Simply, the market forced them to grow, and their main concern was to maintain quality equal to the period when the winery's annual output was 130,000 bottles (vintage 2006). This becomes obvious if the winery is visited during the harvest time... Bucher Vaslin wine presses and equipment scattered around, temperature control at all stages of production, optical sorting, tangential filtration... It is even greater surprise to realize that all this state-of-the-art equipment is used for production of nearly 8 million bottles of wine. Destemming, slight crushing at 7 degrees Celsius, free run juice and pressed juices are further vinified in stainless steel tanks. Batonnage twice a week.

The result is visible as early as December given that Whispering Angel is bottled then and the first shipments commence their journey to all continents. Sacha Lichine himself said on one occasion: "I realized how far we had gone when a famous yacht manufacturer contacted me because he needed dimensions of our double magnum (3 liters) to make wine compartment in yacht fridges. "

And how did Chateau D'Esclans change the style of Provencal rose? Traditionally, Provencal winemakers used to harvest grapes two weeks earlier in order to obtain pale pink colour by extracting pigment from the skin of underripe grapes. To get full-bodied rosé and more intense fruitiness, Chateau D'Esclans picked grapes at optimum ripeness levels (i.e. later than other winemakers). At lower temperature, skin contact may last for 3-4 hours to preserve light pink color, but riper skins leave more intense aromas and flavors. In addition, the winning combination was state-of-the-art equipment, because it would be virtually impossible to make a rosé of such a quality 30 years ago.

Whispering Angel 2018 - (Varietal composition: Grenache, Cinsault, Rolle (Vermentino), Syrah and Tibouren). Always featuring distinct freshness and aromas of white peach and floral hints. On the nose, characterful notes of red berries, citrus, grapefruit, spicy finish. The palate is multi-layered, persistent, medium-to-full body, long refreshing finish. And you already seem to be hearing the whispering angels ...

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