MW celebrates 40 years of working with Provence wine
Elizabeth Gabay MW hosted a tasting and dinner in London this week to launch a new book on the wines of Provence and mark 40 years of working with the region – famous today for rosé, but once better known for its reds and whites.
Addressing attendees at Porte Noire restaurant in King’s Cross, Gabay described the evening as “a celebration”, noting that May marked four decades since she first began working with the wines of Provence – her home region, having relocated there from the UK.
She stressed that Provence “was a very different place in the mid-1980s, where reds and whites were the stars.”
More than just rosé
The tasting and dinner therefore featured “more than just rosé” in its showcase of “the wines we love from Provence,” said Gabay – referring to herself and her son Ben Bernheim, who co-authored The Wines of Provence with her and was also present at the event.
Continuing on the theme of the region’s diversity, she noted that Provence’s first appellations – Cassis and Bandol – were built on whites and reds, while one of its most sought-after estates, Domaine de Trevallon, made its name on age-worthy reds from Cabernet and Syrah, with a 2007 vintage on pour at the event.
A year in Provence
Gabay also recalled that Provence rose to broader cultural prominence in the late 1980s following the success of Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, set in the Luberon – a region represented at the dinner by Château de Mille.
She noted that Château Minuty was among the first major Provence rosé names, though the estate was represented at the event with its full range of red and white wines alongside its rosés.
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Also present was Château la Gordonne, now owned by Maison Pommery & Associés, a producer Gabay worked with during Provence’s early promotional efforts in the UK.
Long-standing wine trade figures
Among the guests were several long-standing figures from the wine world, including authors Wink Lorch and Margaret Rand, Jane Masters MW, and Tom Ashworth of Yapp Brothers – whose founder Robin Yapp, Gabay said, was “a massive inspiration” for her early interest in the wines of southern France.
Turning to one of the region’s more traditional wine styles, she recalled that “one of the first estates I worked with was Château de Saint Martin,” adding that owner Adeline du Barry had “very kindly sent over some rather rare vin cuit for dessert” – a traditional Provençal pudding wine made by reducing grape must over a wood fire before fermentation.
The old and the new
Referring to herself as “a dinosaur”, Gabay said her son represented “the new generation”, she concluded by saying that their latest book aimed to capture both the “memories and history” of Provence and where the region is heading today.
Gabay and Bernheim will be back in the UK for Drink Pink Wednesday on 10 June and the Fine Rosé Day on 16 November.
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