In the quarterly journal The Art of Eating, there’s a regular article called “Why This Bottle?” It’s a short column, written by a rotating assortment of somms, winemakers, and journalists – each telling the story of a particular wine that’s gotten them excited.

Clos Cibonne rosé is a bottle that we’ve been obsessing over lately, and both in the spirit of that article and in keeping with our effort to get people to drink as much awesome wine as possible, we thought we’d share why we’re so into it.

Actually, we just served this at a collaboration dinner featuring Andy and Chef Luciano DelSignore at Bacco Ristorante last weekend. Andy had made some halibut and put it over carrot purée with a fava bean salad and some ramp butter. Almost any decent rosé could work with such a springy, fresh dish. But this, in particular, is serious stuff that rewards food as much as it does a session on the back deck.

For a rosé, there’s a remarkable amount of depth. This isn’t some mediocre bottle of red wine runoff juice. Quite the opposite. Aromatically, there’s a lot of orange and lighter fruits; and on the palate, it’s very fleshy with a silky texture. There’s also a mild earthy characteristic and slight salinity to it.

This extra level of flavor is derived in part from the grape, Tibouren, which is not commonly used on its own, but the family behind this bottle has been growing it extensively since the 1930s. Moreover, it’s a finicky, difficult-to-grow grape, and it’s widely reported by people way smarter than us to have umami characteristics.

But the winemaking plays a role here too. The juice spends a year aging in large oak foudres (French for “huge freaking barrels”), but the 1000L vessels are never capped. Instead, a fleurette develops, covering the wine in a protective layer of yeast similar to a fino sherry.

It’s spring, which is pink wine season here, but we were still surprised by the reaction to this wine when we served it at Bacco. People don’t exactly line up around the corner at their wine shop to fill their trunks with dry rosé. So it was exciting to see everyone asking questions and, even better, asking for more.

The best part for everyone is that Clos Cibonne pretty affordable for bad ass wine. We’d love to serve it when the restaurant finally opens, but in the meantime, we’ve seen it at Great Lakes Coffee in Detroit and at Plum Market at 15 and Lahser, but it’s probably to be found elsewhere too.

Grab a bottle and pour heavily to instantly improve your evening.