The Château Barthès Bandol Rosé 2023 is a pale, dry rosé from Bandol in Provence, built on Mourvèdre with Grenache and Cinsault alongside it. Fine-boned and savoury rather than sweetly fruited, it has more grip and length than most rosé at this shade of pink.

The colour is barely-there salmon pink, and the aromatics run to white peach, wild strawberry and pink grapefruit, with a scrubby herbal lift and a chalky, almost saline edge underneath. Mourvèdre gives the perfume a slightly spicy, red-fruited seriousness that pulls the wine away from simple summer refreshment.

Across the palate the fruit stays taut and lightly crunchy — redcurrant and citrus pith — carried on a fine, drying texture that gives the wine some shape without weight. Acidity is clean and persistent, the finish is dry and mineral, and there is enough substance here to drink it as you would a light white rather than as an aperitif afterthought.

Good with grilled prawns, salade niçoise, roast chicken with lemon and thyme, or anything involving olive oil and garlic. It also handles a cheese board better than most rosé, particularly goat's curd and young sheep's milk cheeses.

Drink now through to 2026, well chilled but not ice-cold, and give it a decent glass — this Bandol rosé opens up considerably as it warms slightly.