Never heard of Tibouren? It is a varietal indigenous to Provence and one that the family patriarch at this property, Andre Roux, believed in so strongly, he replaced all his Mourvèdre vines with it. Clos Cibonne thus takes great price in producing this dramatic and complex 100% Tibouren rosé, which they hold back a year for additional aging. It is always a major staff favorite and really a truly unique wine that any rosé fan should experience. Just the bottle label alone sells itself with the classic old school imagery. We are at the Clos Cibonne which draws its name from Jean-Baptiste de Cibon, captain of Louis XVI's Royal Navy and first owner of the vineyard.

Clos Cibonne’s iconic Cuvée Tradition stands uniquely apart from other rosés as a classic, one-of-a-kind Côtes de Provence rosé featuring the Tibouren grape in the lead role. Cuvée Tradition is legendary amongst experienced French wine collectors for its texture, substance, and ability to age gracefully for a decade or more. It is a limited wine made exclusively with estate-grown, organic Tibouren grapes, and a bit of Grenache to meet Côtes de Provence blending guidelines.

The vineyard, one of 18 Crus Classés of Côtes de Provence, consists of traditional goblet trained vines located close to the Mediterranean Sea in the foothills of the Maures mountains, overlooking Toulon’s harbor. The microclimate of Clos Cibonne is especially important to the uniqueness of the wines, as the proximity of the ocean brings much needed cool air to the vineyards in the summer months. Their location at the foot of the Maures mountains ensures good east-west ventilation, which is ideal for the health and balance of the vineyard.

Vinification: After an early morning manual harvest, the grapes are destemmed and directly pressed. The must goes into temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, which are cooled to slow the fermentation process. After fermentation with native yeasts, the wine is racked into 100-year-old foudres, where it ages biologically on the fine lees for one year sous-voile, under a thin veil of fleurette.