LCBO Wine Find: Domaine Maby La Forcadière Tavel Rosé 2025
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
If you only know rosé as a light, pale, “porch pounder” kind of wine, Tavel is here to politely disagree with you.
Tavel is a small appellation in the southern Rhône Valley that specializes in rosé and only rosé, and it has been doing it that way since the appellation was created back in 1936. So, when I see a rosé on the shelf coming from a serious Tavel producer, you gotta know it is coming home with me - here enters the Domaine Maby La Forcadière Tavel Rosé 2025.
Tavel rosé wines are not delicate, poolside sippers. Tavel rosés are deeply coloured, structured, food-ready wines that were built to be taken seriously, and I am going to take you through this Maby baby (I couldn't help myself).
About Domaine Maby
Domaine Maby is a family estate in the village of Tavel, and the family’s roots there go back to the 19th century. Richard Maby’s grandfather, Armand, was the one who officially launched the Domaine Maby label in 1946, and he was also the Mayor of Tavel, so this is a family that is genuinely woven into the town.
Richard Maby, the current winemaker, actually started his career as a broker on the Paris stock exchange before coming home in 2005 to take over the family estate from his father. That switch clearly paid off, he was named Winemaker of the Year in the 2021 Guide Hachette des Vins.
The estate farms about 60 hectares organically across the Tavel, Lirac and Côtes du Rhône appellations. The vineyards sit on the same round, sun-baked pebbles, called galets roulés, that you’ll find in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Those stones soak up heat all day and slowly release it back to the vines overnight, which helps everything ripen evenly, even the grapes destined for rosé.
About the Domaine Maby La Forcadière Tavel Rosé 2025
This wine is a blend of seven grapes, and as the producer explains, the split is "Grenache noir (55%), Cinsault (20%), Syrah (10%), Mourvèdre (5%), Grenache blanc (5%), etc." All of the grapes are sourced from vines with an average age of 36 years, and that age shows. Tavel rosé isn’t made like most rosé you’ll find on the shelf. It gets more skin contact, and direct pressing from red grapes, which is exactly why you get that deep, dark fuchsia colour in the glass instead of the pale salmon most people expect from rosé wine.
On the nose, you’re getting lively cranberry and cherry fruit with a little kick of spice behind it, fruity but not candied or confected. The palate is where this one really makes its case. It has real texture and concentration for a rosé, with that same bright red berry fruit spreading across the tongue, backed by fresh acidity and a savoury, herbal edge. It’s medium-bodied and fully dry, just 2 g/L of sugar, at 13.5% ABV.
Because it has structure that most rosé doesn’t, this is a genuinely versatile food wine. Think grilled salmon or shrimp, a roast chicken, charcuterie, or even something richer like ribs. It would also hold its own at a Thanksgiving or holiday table, which isn’t something I say about a lot of rosé wine. It’s drinking beautifully now, and has the structure to keep going for a couple more years.
The Domaine Maby La Forcadière Tavel Rosé 2025 can be found at the LCBO for $24.95.
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