Château de Saint Martin

Château de Saint-Martin has been growing grapes on the same Provençal hillside since 1740. Eleven generations of the same family. A Cru Classé designation from Côtes de Provence since 1955. So when they decided to enter the alcohol-free market, they had rather more accumulated expertise to draw on than most.

Fav0%rite (the name riffs on the zero) is their answer to the question of what happens when you apply serious winemaking credentials to dealcoholised sparkling wine. The estate is based in Taradeau, in the Var department of Provence, where the terroir is built for rosé. The grapes used in Fav0%rite are the varieties typical to the region, vinified in the conventional manner before the alcohol is removed through vacuum distillation under cold conditions. Natural aromas are then reintroduced to compensate for what the distillation takes away.

Currently the range runs to one product: Bulles de Rosé, a sparkling rosé at 0.0%. On the nose it leans towards the gourmand end of things, with rose, vine peach, passion fruit and pomelo. The palate is fresh, with some tension, carrying through the rose character alongside apple and kiwi notes. Serve well chilled.

At around €25 for a 75cl bottle, it sits at the premium end of the alcohol-free sparkling category. That price reflects the Cru Classé provenance more than anything else, and it positions Fav0%rite alongside estate-driven AF wines like Château Léoube and Nooh rather than the supermarket alternatives.

UK availability is limited. This is primarily a French market product, sold direct through the château's wine shop. Specialist AF retailers occasionally stock it, but distribution outside France remains thin.

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