Rosé d’Anjou
Rose d’Anjou is an appellation for rosé wines from the Anjou district of France’s western Loire Valley wine region.
Generally associated with over-sweet roses made predominantly from Grolleau Noir, the appellation is now declining in importance – particularly when compared to the more complex, more serious rose wines made under the Cabernet d’Anjou title.
Modern Rose d’Anjou is still made from a majority of Grolleau Noir, a variety that is permitted in very few other appellations. Grolleau plantings are declining, but those vines which have not been replaced by more commercially successful varieties (Cabernet Franc being an obvious example), end up in Rose d’Anjou. In an effort to raise the quality and popularity of these wines, they may now also contain Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec (known locally as Cot) Gamay, Pineau d’Aunis, and Grolleau Gris.
A Rose d’Anjou wine can originate in any one (or several) of the district’s 150 communes, stretching from Saumur in the east to Champtoceaux in the west. This area lies on the dividing line between the carboniferous soils of the Armorican Massif and the whiter, limestone-rich soils of the southern Paris Basin.
Rose d’Anjou wines may be sold as ‘Primeur’ or ‘Nouveau’ – a much-fruitier style of wine and almost entirely free of tannins as a result of being fermented using carbonic maceration. Under official law, to warrant this title the wines may not be released before the 38th day preceding the third Thursday of November of the year of harvest.