Marquis d’Aqueria Tavel 2025

Château d’Aqueria is the largest estate in Tavel, with 68 hectares of vineyards on a single tract surrounding the château on sandy-clay soils, HVE certified since 2014, run by the Olivier-de Bèz family. The 2025 is a six-variety blend (Grenache, Syrah, Clairette, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Bourboulenc) co-fermented in pairs across short macerations of 12-24 hours, then aged briefly in stainless steel and concrete. Remarkably consistent over the last quarter century, d’Aqueria’s Tavel retains the same deep, untrendy pale-red colour (maybe back in vogue these days) along with strawberry-cherry yoghurt flavours in the powerful and dense style of Tavel, with a customary 14% alcohol – a textbook archetype that comes in and out of fashion, and I feel now back in with the craze for ‘crushable reds’, which this deep rosé also fits. More importantly the flavour depth and density far exceed expectations in the price category. So much pleasure on offer here; chill well and go – call it deep rosé or light red or whatever, doesn’t matter. Tasted May 2026. (John Szabo, MS,winealign.com)