Winemaker Arnaud Couly with his father Jacques in their Chinon vineyards (photo: Darrault)

This Rosé with its nervy charm and Cabernet Franc essence will completely win you over. You will be passing up your favorite summer white for it, I promise. And, you do know that pouring a Rosé these days makes you exceedingly cool, or hot, depending upon your generation.

Domaine Couly Dutheil, famous for their Loire reds (Clos de l'Echo, Baronnie Madeleine, and Diligence), are making one of France's most refreshing and best Rosés I've ever put in my glass - and I've tasted a lot of them.

Couly Dutheil winemaker Arnaud Couly's Rosé brings summer to my lips. You can taste the hint of red berries (Rosé should never just taste like pink white wine. It is made, afterall, from red wine grapes.) and there is that zing of fresh, perfect acidity in your mouth.

The Rene Couly Rosé comes from one of the most beautiful wine villages in all of France: Chinon. I've been drinking Chinon for twenty-five years. I cannot taste a Chinon without a vivid picture of the village popping into my mind.

For a quarter of a mile in each direction along the Vienne River are charming stone houses built right into the hillside. The land rises steeply from the bank and on its highest part sits a chateau, noble though in ruins, and of course backed by vineyards in all directions.

All up and down the river are France's signature plane trees, stumpy and squat from rigorous pruning in the winter and bursting with shade-giving leaves in the summer. There is an open-air market once a week. You can sip your noir double in the morning and watch the trafficking of ripe peaches and aromatic melons and cheeses and feel a few million miles away from anything flashy and artificial and second-rate.

Domaine Couly Dutheil has been making some of the Loire's best wines for 80 years now. This Rene Couly Rosé is produced on gravel and sandy soils, from mature vines. The grapes are picked by hand and the yields are low. They treat their Rosé the same as they do any of their other award-winning red wines. And speaking of awards, this wine just won a Gold Medal at the prestigious Paris Agricultural Fair.

Do you know how Rosé is made? First, you press the grapes the way you normally would for any red wine. The juice is allowed to sit with the grape skins briefly picking up color, but also tannins, pectins and proteins which give the wine structure. Then, -and here's where the process differs from red wine vinification- the juice is drained off, put into another vat without the skins, and the fermentation proceeds. The process is called saignée.

This is what gives Rosé its beautiful, seductive, pale color and subtle red fruit notes. Are you ready to pour a sunset into your glass? Cynthia Hurley

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The Hermitage Hillside Vineyards - Sorrel is just to the left on the steepest slope.

The only way I was able to elbow my way into an allocation of this wine was by providing Marc with 6 bottles from the 1984 vintage, the year his father died and he took over the vineyard. He had run through all of his and I had shown some fortuitous restraint. He was desperate to fill-out his cellar with this symbolic and nostalgic year and suddenly a relationship was born which has lasted until this day.

Hermitage is situated south of Lyon on a dramatic stone-walled terraced hillside of granite, where the Rhone River makes a circular sweep in its trip to the Mediterranean. The great steep hillside vineyards have a broad southern exposure and are heated by the River and the rocky soil that stores the summer heat late into the day.

"For pure richness, allied to complexity and elegance, Hermitage remains unequaled." - Robert Parker

If you got Robert Parker alone, he would probably go farther and say that Hermitage is a euphemism for sex. Hey, shall we have some Hermitage tonight? Who can resist its silkiness, its boldness, its stamina, its stunning splendor? WOW!

But there's always a catch isn't there? The elite Hermitage wines are expensive. The yields are low and the harvesting (and all the vineyard work) must be done by hand. No grower in his right mind would take a tractor up there on that hillside. Nothing but a mountain goat belongs up there and they would just eat up all the profits. So, the cost of our sexy little fruit bomb Hermitage gets up there.

There is some good news. Marc Sorrel is part of a small elite group of some of the best growers in the Rhone. Chave, Jaboulet, and Chapoutier are names you're probably familiar with. Their special cuvees go for hundreds of dollars a bottle. Marc's Hermitage Le Greal is far more reasonable.

Hermitage is 100% Syrah. Le Greal is a miniscule-quantity (about 200 cases) blockbuster cuvee. The Meal and Greffieux vineyards are located on the highest hill in Hermitage. Robert Parker describes the Meal vineyard (again, the sex - the man has it bad):

"This large steeply terraced vineyard produces one of the most exotic, smoky, sexy styles of Syrah. {The wine} is supple, voluptuously textured and more forward and flattering than wines from other vineyards."

90% of Sorrel's Hermitage comes from Meal. Okay, okay, it is a tryst in a glass.

But, there is more. Marc Sorrel also makes a stunning regular cuvee Hermitage wine which is a lot easier on the pocketbook: Cuvee Classique. All of Marc's wines are superbly crafted and fabulous with hearty, spicy stews and grilled foods. Cynthia Hurley

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 Walter in his hilltop vineyards at Domaine de Mourchon

"This is the best estate today in Seguret, and they continue to take the quality of their Cotes du Rhone to an exciting level. Of course, Grenache is the base for these wines. They are gorgeously made, pure, rich, beautifully textured, savory, and everything a wine in Provençe should be. All of this can be attributed to Englishman Walter McKinlay, who purchased 40+ acres in 1998. It is amazing how quickly he has become a superstar in Seguret. The aging process here is relatively simple, with the wines kept in both concrete vats and oak casks. There is 100% destemming." - Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

"De Mourchon is amongst the most interesting 5% of wine made today." - Jancis Robinson

Every year Parker bestows the big grades on the de Mourchon Rhones. The wines came to his attention several years ago and he can't get enough of them. The 2006, which was a splendid vintage in the Rhone, is no exception.

Not too long ago, I remember sinking into a chair on Walter and Ronnie McKinlay's terrace, taking in the Rhône surroundings and finally closing my jaw, which had been hanging open. The vines were slightly below us in soldierly rows, stretching into the distance on gently rounded hills. The vines seemed far away and, at the same time, all-enveloping. There were rows upon rows and hills upon hills, all frosted in a sagey hue.

Walter and Roni McKinlay have owned Domaine de Mourchon since 1998 when Walter, a Scotsman, sold his computer business and decided he wanted to own a vineyard. Sometimes, he pulls a long face and leans in conspiratorially to share that owning a vineyard was perhaps more work than he had initially had in mind, but how can I really ache for him when he has made such a stunning success out of it all?

Séguret is a small village clinging to a hillside in the southern Rhône Valley not too far north of Avignon. The first vines were planted here in the 13th century. There are about twenty vineyard areas in the southern Rhône that are officially allowed to add their name to their label due to superior terroir. Séguret is one of these privileged villages.

The winery is a modern beauty with shiny stainless steel tanks configured in a circle in one room. This winery is state of the art with table de tri for sorting every grape carefully to make sure there are no inferior ones in the final blend, and designed to use gravity to pamper the grapes as they transfer to the vat.

Then there is the tasting room, which is sun-splashed and painted in Provençal hues of dusty pinks and earthy tones. It's very hard to leave this place. Waves of relaxing Provençal welcome wash over you as you stand with your glass of minerally and dark-hued Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret Tradition in your hand. The cherries, black and red, waft from the glass.

Domaine de Mourchon is situated in the hills at approximately 300m of altitude behind the limestone crags on which the village of Séguret is perched. As you ascend the winding road up the hill to the vineyard the predominance of limestone gives way to a gray marl giving the landscape a crumbly blue base.

The vines are planted on steep, narrow terraces which face mostly south-east and south-west. On the top of the gray marl base is a thin layer of dense stony limestone and clay topsoil. Because of the friable nature of the marl, the roots of the vine are able to go deep in their search for water during the hot, dry summers and be protected from drought stress, but more than that the vines profit from the rich selection of trace elements found at such depths which impart minerality to the wine.

Remember, Rhones are for the summer when the steaks and hamburgers are sizzling on the grill. These are wines that will enhance any food. They are smooth and fragrant. After a few glasses you'll be planning your next trip to Provençe. Cynthia Hurley

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 The Auvigue brothers. Jean-Pierre is in front, Michel behind.

"2007 also produced some terrific wines in both Mâconnais and the Côte Chalonnaise, particularly the Macon area. The wines are ripe and with firm acidities yet there is a sufficient amount of mid-palate concentration that they will drink well on the early side. It's relatively rare to have classically styled wines that will drink well early yet the '07s are already sufficiently supple that 2 to 3 years will see the vast majority of them at their best." -Allen Meadows, Burghound

The Macon region is part of Burgundy-south of the more famous (and expensive) Cote d'Or. It is home to fabulous, affordable Chardonnay with some of the same qualities as the more expensive northern neighbors like Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet that run $50 a bottle and more. Of course, the wines are not as rare and complex, but if you find some good ones...

That is where Jean-Pierre Auvigue comes to the dinner table. I have been drinking his wines for over twenty-five years. Yes, they have that emphasis of honey and grapefruit on the tongue, yes they are crisp and dry, but you know what I like most about them?

They have a pure taste from start to finish. There is not a whiff or a dab or an undertone of something amiss about them. They are not over-oaked by any stretch. In fact there is no oak used at all. This is pure, fresh Chardonnay.

Auvigue's Macon Villages is pale gold. There are fruit and floral notes with good length in the mouth. This Macon Villages comes from a vineyard very close to Pouilly-Fuissé. The grapes are planted on clay and limestone soils.

Harvesting white wine grapes is very tricky because every day those grapes stay on the vine reaching their maximum ripeness, they are also losing precious acidity - that nervy, vivacious character in whites that is their sine qua non. It is finding that perfect moment when the acidity aligns with the ripeness that is the eureka time with a white wine.

Jean-Pierre is master of the eureka. For this reason, you will be lucky to find a bottle of Auvigue in my cellar unless it's just been delivered. I can't keep my hands off an Auvigue Macon Villages. It is the go to "Chardonnay" at chez Hurley. I know you will agree. Cynthia Hurley

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 The new barrel storage room at La Commanderie de Mayzeres in Pomerol

"Well done for the vintage. With a very good mouthfeel, lots of velvety tannins and a long finish. Balanced." Rated 90 Wine Spectator

This 2006 bottling is better than the superb 2005.

Pomerol is Bordeaux's DRC. The hallowed ground - The hard to get appellation that everyone wants but its miniscule supply severely limits its availability.

Pomerols are intensely fruited with a voluptuous texture. Early-maturing, yet long-lived. Doesn't that describe your perfect wine? When was the last time you had one? I'll bet it's been a while.

Have you ever visited Pomerol?

I remember my first visit. I saw the "Pomerol" sign and then less than thirty seconds later, I saw another sign: "Pomerol" with a line drawn through it. I had left Pomerol. There were a couple of buildings, but not so much as a café or tabac. One church. And yet, I was surrounded by some of the most expensive vines in the world. The understatement was killing. It stirred such desire.

Pomerol is a tiny triangle of land to the northwest of St. Emilion. It is about a seventh of the size of its neighbor. The estates here are small with very limited production - generally 800-3000 cases. A chateau in the Medoc is likely to produce ten times that amount.

So, this is where the mathematics come in - if you don't have the volume, you've got to make it up on price. Every Pomerolian cranks up the quality of their wine to the highest possible level in order to justify the Everest prices they ask for and yes, get. There are few slackers in Pomerol.

Uniquely, for Bordeaux, there is no classification of wines here. No person on high felt the need or the courage to dub one wine superior to the others. There are no First Growths, Second Growths, no Cru Bourgeois or Bordeaux Superieur. It's "just" Pomerol, and you don't mess with the mighty.

The winemaking in Pomerol is generally considered to be the most meticulous in the land. Chateau Petrus, ($1500 a bottle) of course, occupies a special place in Pomerol, but its stratospheric prices give the wine an almost mythic quality. I know I've had a few dribbles over the years, certainly more than enough to make me want more of that Pomerol lushness.

But, Petrus is not coming to my table anytime soon so thank goodness for my good friend, Jean-Luc Thunevin who always manages to point me in the direction of phenomenal wines. This time, he really out-did himself by pouring some Chateau La Commanderie de Mazeyres into my glass. A very fine Pomerol - made better by his taking over the winemaking.

Well, the velvety liquid immediately ignited my senses, but I was most excited to discover I could actually afford it.

La Commanderie de Mazeyres has been around since the 14th century. It was purchased by Clement Fayat in 2000 and has been extensively renovated. Fayat asked Jean-Luc Thunevin, St Emilion's foremost garagiste and wine expert to be the Chateau's consultant starting with the 2006 vintage.

The vines are over 40 years old. The cepage is 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc. The harvesting is done by hand with careful sorting to eliminate any unripe grapes. All the grapes are de-stemmed before the vat. The wine is then aged in oak barrels, of which 50-70% are new.

But what makes a Pomerol different from the rest?

Pomerols are sexier and lusher. They wear their Merlot fruit proudly and seem to have a presence about them that is on the one hand excruciatingly controlled, stylish, and French and on the other hand, feral, secretive, and, exciting.

Make no mistake about it, Pomerols are not just rare, they are truly great Bordeaux. Cynthia Hurley

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 Winemaker Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle in their Saint-Emilion Garden

Winemaker Jean-Luc Thunevin and Murielle in their Saint-Emilion Garden

This is the last of my 2006 Presidial Bordeaux. Some people came back for thirds on this wine last year. We kept the 2005s flowing until the very last drop, but then we had to wait while Jean-Luc Thunevin finished working his magic with the 2006 Presidial.

You will love it! It is all concentrated fruit and none of those vegetal, reedy flavors or rough tannins that often mar a lower priced Bordeaux that is not meticulously made. This Presidial 2006 is quite perfect and no surprise considering that Thunevin is the architect.

It doesn't hurt that this Bordeaux has been the rave of the French press. It has been called the "Best Value in Bordeaux". More than once. Now that is tough to top. You probably know who Jean-Luc Thunevin is by now. He "started" the whole "garage" movement back in 1989. Garage wines, as you probably know by now, are small production wines made from tiny parcels of vines that are tended as preciously as orchid gardens.

Jean Luc bought a tiny parcel, on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Saint-Emilion and proved to the venerable Saint-Emilion establishment in a few vintages that one could make a silk purse from a moose's ear if you did things like de-stemming by hand and severe green harvesting and keeping the yields very, very low.

He called his wine Valandraud. It led the way in the quality revolution in Saint-Emilion that persists to this day. Now, even the old establishment types are copying his every move. We have Jean-Luc Thunevin to thank for a lot of the great wine coming out of Saint-Emilion because today he advises many, many chateau owners about their wines.

That is why when Jean-Luc gets a yearning to do something - like create a great, little generic Bordeaux that doesn't cost an arm and leg - I want to get in on it. That's the Presidial story. He took great parcels of terroir from around Liborne, which is right next to Pomerol and Saint-Emilion and applied all of his demanding winemaking techniques et voila!

Some of you read my emails and proclaim, "What doesn't she like?" Well, if you only knew how hard it is to find a really great little Bordeaux you wouldn't be saying that. There are hundreds of wines that splash down my gullet and then right into the spittoon never to meet my taste buds again. This Presidial was a winner from the get-go.

I had it the other night and my first thoughts were about the fabulous, pure fruit that started out good and ended up good. It is really a charmer, and at this price, you should think seriously about two cases. Cynthia Hurley

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 Pierre in his modern cellars

Read what La Revue du Vin de France says about Pierre Gaillard:

"Without a misstep, Pierre Gaillard pursues a path of quality. He is dynamic and intelligent, for several years now his wines have been exciting and fascinating, winning and seductive in their youth, lacking nothing in complexity and potential. These wines are the surest values in the Rhone Valley."

I've always loved the robust and rounded red wine from Cornas. And, when you match Pierre Gaillard's winemaking prowess and intelligence with the Cornas terroir, the result is a beautiful glassful of red wine.

"Fruit and lots of it is the hallmark of the 2006 vintage in the Northern Rhone," John Livingstone-Learmonth writes in Decanter magazine.

Cornas is like a little stocking foot on the bottom of the much larger wine commune, St Joseph. Cornas produces only red wines, made exclusively from the Syrah grape. It is a very small appellation with only about 90 hectares planted.

Cornas is a very big wine. This results from the fact that Cornas sits in a big dish-like geologic amphitheatre that protects it from the cooling and brutal Mistral. The hot, nearly-baking Syrah grapes produce juice that is often described as: virile, robust, earthy, black, tannic, brooding, and massive with notes of raspberries, truffles, and cassis.

"Cornas has character, life, and energy." -La Revue du Vin de France

I think, as the standards of winemaking improve and technology is able to extract more and more flavor from a grape, our yearning for big, expressive and rich wines has increased. This does not necessarily mean a wine that is ponderously alcoholic or over-oaked (Pierre Gaillard would throw himself in the Rhone River before that happened); it means more concentration and structure.

Pierre Gaillard only has one hectare to work with in Cornas. His yields are ruinously low at 35 hectoliters per hectare. His vines are a noble and aged 70 years. Pierre exercises severe sorting and harvests by hand. The wines rest 18 months in barrels, 50% of which are new.

Put a case of this in your cellar. You will love its rich intensity. Cynthia Hurley

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 The wild St Chinian vineyards

It took me a long time to find a Rosé that was glass worthy to compete with my Chiroubles Beaujolais Cru during Saturday lunch or my white Macon, Saumur or Vouvray for something refreshing at the end of the day.

But, I was willing to admit that, as the quality of French wine has gotten better and better, so has the Rosé. And, as I'm sure you know, the popularity of Rosé has gone through the roof

So I went on a rotation throughout France and I drank every Rosé I could find - not the romp through the vineyards you're undoubtedly envisioning since there are still a number of slackers out there passing off their leftovers as Rosé.

But with some perseverance, I found one. It's not surprising that my Rosé was right in my own backyard of existing growers. I like to work with the small "indy" growers who put quality ahead of practically everything. These are the fellows who are not about to short-change their Rosé. In fact they are devoted to their Rose as much as any wine they produce from their vineyard.

My Rosé is from Domaine des Jougla. I discovered this estate a few years back traveling around the Languedoc Roussillon which stretches all the way from where the Rhone empties into the Mediterranean, west along the rim of the sea to Spain. There are a lot of very gulpable wines here coming out of places like Minervois, St Chinian and Coteaux de Languedoc. Domaine des Jougla is from the St Chinian wine appellation - an area that is getting wonderful reviews and new attention.

I was pleased to see that France's equivalent to The Wine Advocate, La Revue du Vin de France, backed up my good feeling about Domaine des Jougla's Rosé by naming it one of the Best Rosés in France.

"A well-built personality around savory minerals, spicy fruit reminiscent of kumquats. A real mouthful!"

That's impressive! These La Revue folks trekked through a lot of Rosé territory to pick their favorites.

Do you know how they make Rosé? The best Rosé is made by pressing the grapes, the way you normally would for any red wine. The juice is allowed to sit with the grape skins picking up color, but also tannins, pectins and proteins, which give the wine structure. Then the juice is drained off, put into another vat without the skins and the fermentation proceeds. This process is called saignée.

The Jougla Rosé has pure fruit flavors of raspberries and strawberries and just as important, freshness. By freshness, I mean good, lively acidity. Rosé has to be perky and it's the acidity that gives it that zing. This is a full-flavored Rosé made from Syrah and Mourvedre. The color has a brilliant salmon tint.

So, start the Rosé chilling. It's great now and Spring is coming. Cynthia Hurley

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This wine is new and it is great, but before I say more, I am going to start off with some pronunciation tips because a wine that is hard to pronounce tends to get overlooked and there is no way you should miss this wine just because you don't want to say its name:

Here goes. Concentrate. Boor'goy. The trick is to give it a Yiddish twist at the end-as in the oi of oi vey. Step on the G hard. Boor-ghoi. Perfect!

Now here's the story. Bob and I were in the Loire not too long ago to look for a new Bourgueil. Bourgueil is part of the Touraine. It's north of the Loire River, west of Tours. The climate is mild and you will run into the odd palm tree. I like to hunt for new wines. It's a good way to stay on top of a region and who's out there.

I did some advance work and happened to see the Domaine Rochouard had received a 5-star (perfect) rating from Decanter magazine for one of their wines. Getting 5-stars is rare and a big deal so I dashed out an email and fixed a rendezvous.

Read what the Guide Hachette has to say about the wine of Dominique Duveau, the proprietor of Domaine du Rochouard:

"One appreciates the almost violet robe of the wine, its nose expressive of red and black fruits, embellished with some licorice, but above all, the abundant material coming from a ripe harvest. The tannins put their two cents in, but not too strongly and the final taste returns to that licorice." -Guide Hachette

It's always a relief to show up at a new vineyard and see an impeccable operation. You could eat off the floor of Duveau's tasting room and that usually says something about the wine.

The Domaine was started in 1969 and it passed to the two sons in 2007. Cuvée Coteau comes from a small two-hectare plot of limestone, clay, and sandy soil. The grapes are macerated in the tank for about three weeks. Dominique does not age Coteau in wood.

Cuvée Coteau is a full-bodied, rich wine with notes of dark currants and that uniquely expressive nose that only comes from a wine that's 100% Cabernet Franc. I tasted ripe, roasted cherries. Bourgueil! You will want this in your glass.

 Pascal Fuller, owner of Mas de L'Ecriture

Our friend Pascal Fulla emailed me recently to tell us his wine was on Michel Guérard's 3-Star Eugénie les Bains wine list. The last time Bob and I had dinner at super-chef Michel Guérard's famous restaurant it was sooooo good that we spent the night, got up the next morning and had lunch, too.

You know these three-star chefs in France...they care about every detail and they want only the very best of everything, including of course for their wine list. Everyone wants to be included - only a select few are.

Mas de l'Ecriture is a pristine, pink-hued, modern winery in the village of Jonquieres near the Mediterranean. Try to imagine several inkblots of land strewn across the French arc between from about Nimes to Narbonne. These selected vineyard sites are recognized as having superior and distinctive terroir. They are known as the Coteaux de Languedoc. Within these areas there are even better parcels, one of which is called Terasses du Larzac. This is where the vineyard of Mas de l'Ecriture is located.

Pascal Fulla came late to the wine business. He was a lawyer for a long time and only created his estate in the late 1990s, but he hit the ground running. The winery rises out of a valley on flat land between hills. The land has the magical combination of stony soil, which drains well during the often quite violent rainstorms, and limestone and clay, which holds water down deep during the equally frequent droughts. In addition, the vineyards are regularly swept by the Mistral, which keeps the pests away.

Mas de l'Ecriture has only 12 hectares under vines. Very small for this area. No herbicides are used. Pascal keeps the yields very low and the berries are sorted twice to eliminate the unripe and the unhealthy. His work in the winery is as meticulous as that in the vineyard.

His Cuvee Emotion is a a wonderful combination of fresh, deep red fruit with a garnet robe and aromas of red fruit and blackberries backed by a fine minerality and a bit of garrigue (those scrubby outcroppings of lavender and herbs known best in the Rhone Valley). The wine is 40% Syrah and 30% Grenache (the blend of much more expensive Rhone wines) and about equal parts Carignan and Cinsault. It is a fearless wine not afraid of spicy stews and powerful cheeses, but at the same time smooth with penetrating depth. Cynthia Hurley

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