Description / Reviews
// 51% Grenache, 40% Mataro, 9% Cinsault
"The Luxe Rosé made its debut in 2009 and, since then, has only been made in vintages Pete and Magali deem exceptional for the style. In the last ten years, Luxe has been released just four times in very small quantities, perhaps explaining this wine’s cult-like status. Grenache from an ancient, gravelly/sandy block in Bethany; Mataro from a 30-year-old bush vine block on Stonegarden's terra rossa soils; and younger-vine Cinsault from the gravel-shot red clays of southern Ebenezer.
In contrast to previous years, Schell is pushing a franker expression of fruit and has pared back his approach in the cellar. Each parcel saw between four and six hours of skin contact before fermentation and six months of maturation on lees in stainless steel tanks. Stylistically different it may be, but the 2023 Luxe holds all the complex detail, depth and perfumed power of its predecessors, now in a more elegant package. Lifted red fruits, vibrant floral and spice notes and a pulsating mineral stoniness flow through the fleshy, satin-like texture to a moreish, berry-soaked close. It’s a stunner!" - Bibendum, Distributor
"Pete Schell is a bit of a wizz at rosé, here 51/40/9% grenache/mataro/cinsault. I've got an inkling Pete might drink a bit of Bandol rosé, so that should guide you to his winery's style. It's like an extra utensil at the dinner table. Redcurrant, raspberry, watermelon, soft spice, blood orange, dried herbs, savoury, umami, stony, boardshorts, sunhat, seafood, tick." - 95 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion
"Beautiful rosé. Bone dry. Strawberried and earthen, spicy and direct, with a slip of grape-skin texture and excellent citrus-driven length. Raspberry and blackcurrant bud characters bloom as the wine breathes but its earthen, spicy, stony dryness prevails throughout. In drinking terms it has at least another couple of summers in it." - 93+ points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
