I don’t have to tell you that rosé wine season is right around the corner. You will start seeing it for yourself.
You will start going out more, wearing brighter colours and wanting to enjoy the warmer temperatures.
You will start meandering around different sections in the LCBO and start thinking to yourself, maybe something light and refreshing would be a nice addition to the day.
Then you might find a tall, elegant bottle in the rosé section, one that stands tall and has quite the presence above the rest. I would reach for that one, likely, it’s a bottle by Domaines Ott. And you won’t regret it.
Enter Domaines Ott
In my opinion, a perfect summer day is trying to get as close as possible to a Slim Arons photograph, and it looks like rosé wines by Domaines Ott could slot right into the frame perfectly.
A refreshing pale pink glass, condensation forming in the heat, coloured umbrellas, blue water.
What could be a better?
A Brief History of Ott
To bring this more into perspective, we have to go back more than 100 years. The agricultural engineer from Alsace, Marcel Ott, arrived in Provence in 1896 and he searched as far as Algeria before his wife Elisabeth convinced him to settle near the Mediterranean. It turned out to be the right move.
He purchased Château de Selle in 1912, an estate near Draguignan, that would become the building blocks of everything that you see today. Clos Mireille came next in 1936, then in 1956, Château Romassan. At each sprawling property, Marcel Ott applied the same philosophy: controlled the yields, focus on noble grape varieties, and a sustainable approach to the land that was quite an outlier for its era.
In the year of 1932, he commissioned his son René to design a bottle unlike anything else in Provence (and many other countries for that matter). It stands tall, curved form inspired by the cypress trees of the region once used to keep wine cool. Marcel Ott had hoped all Provençal producers would adopt it. Well, they didn’t.
Which meant the bottle design became exclusively Ott’s, which definitely worked out in their favour and continues to serve them today.
A year later, following the end of Prohibition, the first bottles of Château de Selle red and rosé were exported to the US, touching down for the first time in North America. They sold immediately, no surprise there.
Since 2004, Domaines Ott has been part of the Roederer Collection, the same producers of Champagne Louis Roederer. However, the Ott family continues to run the three estates. The winemaking philosophy Marcel Ott established over a century ago remains intact: organic and biodynamic-inspired practices, low intervention, letting the grapes do the work while having the conviction that doing less, done very well, produces better wine.
Experiencing Domaines Ott For Myself
I was privileged to join both the ever-lovely and talented, Angela Aiello (pictured below) and Ryan Zanette, both winemakers in their own right through The Juice Company In Vineland (Niagara region). They hosted a wonderful lunch at La Vecchia Lakeshore with Domaine Ott rosé wines on display for me to enjoy and quickly fall for.
We were taken through the wines, what makes them special and how they produce them from the charismatic brand ambassador, Christophe Coppola Renard (pictured above).
It was a lovely afternoon alongside some of my favourite wine journalists, enthusiasts and personalities in the Toronto area. Always a pleasure to dine with them.
Two Rosé Expressions. Two Different Price Points.
If you’ve been waiting for a reason to open a proper Provence rosé this summer, this is it.
Here are the tasting notes for the two rosé wines enjoyed:
OTT by OTT Côtes de Provence Rosé 2024
The entry point into the Ott house style. OTT By Ott has that light, incredible pale hue and silkiness. It’s very easy to enjoy, especially the hotter the day gets.
What it tastes like: Light, balanced, fruity palate. Everything a textbook Côtes de Provence rosé should be, with nothing overdone.
Specs: 13.5% ABV | 2 g/L residual sugar | Medium-bodied & dry
Enjoy with: A cheese board on the patio, grilled fish, or honestly, a glass on its own as the sun starts to lower.
Domaines Ott Château de Selle Cru Classé Côtes de Provence Rosé 2024
A blend of Côtes de Provence AOC grape varieties led by Grenache, with Cinsault for softness and Syrah and Mourvèdre for fruit and structure.
What it tastes like: Clean, elegant, floral. Soft, yet structured. Subtle notes of white floral, peaches, with a nice minerality to it.
Specs: 13% ABV | 2 g/L residual sugar| Medium-bodied & dry | Organic
Best with: Seafood crudo, sea bass en papillote, light burrata with heirloom tomatoes.
How To Enjoy Rosés by Domaines Ott
These light and easy to enjoy rosé wines are best served cold, around 8 to 10°C. Neither needs decanting, though both will would benefit by some time in an ice bucket for that refreshing feeling before the first sip.
The Château de Selle is the one to open when celebrating or wanting to treat someone or the people around you. A perfect gift for the host of a dinner party, a first meal on a cottage deck, an anniversary or just if you are having a wonderful day.
The OTT by Ott is the bottle you want on hand all summer, because it punches well above what the price suggests and disappears from glasses faster than you’d expect.
Buy Two When You Go To The LCBO
I am not kidding, you should keep one for yourself and keep one for later. You are competing with people like me who will buy them if I see it on shelves.
These are going to go quickly on shelves, they already are. While over $30 or even $55 for a bottle of rosé seems like a little bit much, consider something, the wines come from a fully integrated winery. Their rich history, their own grapes, their own vines, their own juice and their own bottle design. They took the expensive route for their production and I am willing to pay for that.
Also, please do not have this as a second or third bottle of wine for the night when enjoying the company of others or having a nice summer day. This is a first bottle of the night kind of wine.
For more information on Domaines Ott, please visit their website. If you are looking to find it in the LCBO, please do by finding Ott on their website.
Please enjoy responsibly.
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