FRANCE
Zazou Côtes de Provence
ZAZOU
The Zazous were part of a subculture in France during and after World War Two. They were young people who expressed their individuality by wearing garish clothing and listening to Jazz music. They rebelled against the conformity and conservatism imposed by the Nazis occupying France during the Second World War. Often men had long greased hair, oversized clothes and thick sole suede shoes while women wore jackets with extremely wide shoulders, short pleated skirts, shoulder length blonde curly hair styles, with sunglasses and bright red lipstick.
A rich Jazz scene sprang up in Montmartre in the inter-war years. Black Americans musicians felt freer in Paris than they did back home, and they contributed greatly to the Paris Jazz culture. The Zazous probably got their name from a line in a song ‘ Zah Zuh Zah’ by the black American jazz musician Cab Calloway.
Zazou, the wine, is a take on originality and non conformity to explore wine outside common boundaries.
PROVENCE WINE
Provence wine comes from the Provence region, southeast France. The Romans called the area provincia nostra ("our province"), giving the region its name. This name is due to the fact that the region borders with Italy.
Wine has been produced in Provence for over 2 600 years, since the Greek founded Marseille in 600 BC.
Rosé wine accounts for over 50% of the wine production in Provence, red wine is about a third and the rest is white wine produced in small quantities.
Provence has a classic Mediterranean climate, with the Mediterranean Sea forming the southern border. The Mediterranean climate is made of mild winters and relatively warm summers with little rainfall. Sunshine is found in abundance in this region with more than 3 000 hours per year. The powerful mistral wind from the north provides positive and negative influences on the viticulture. While it can cool the grapes from the heat and dry the grapes after rain, providing some protection against rot and grape diseases, it can also damage vines that are not securely trained and protected by hillsides. In areas where the wind is particularly strong, the ideal vineyard locations are on hillsides facing south towards the sea, with the hill providing some shelter from the mistral's devastating force.
The soil across Provence is varied, lacking uniformity and generalization. In isolated areas, such as the Cassis AOC and near the Mediterranean coastline, are deposits of limestone and shale. These areas tend to be planted with white wine grapes that perform better in those soil types.
Some coastal areas in the region have soils with more schist and quartz in their composition while inland there is more clay and sandstone.
The main grape varieties used to make Côtes de Provence Rosé are; Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Tibouren with an increase in the use of the use of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. To improve quality, producers limit the amount of Carignan used in the rosé and red wine production, using the maximum of 40% permitted in the wine and mandating that at least 60% of the blend be composed of Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvèdre and Tibouren. There is also an AOC requirement that at least 20% of the rosé must be blended from wine produced by the saignée method of maceration.