Summer in Provence sounds like an idyllic dream to me. No wonder movies and books have been written about this area of southern France.
Lavender fields, quaint hill-top villages, sunflowers, olive trees. Oh, and vineyards – the raison d’etre for some of us to dream of visiting Provence in the first place.
The French Winophiles are diving into Provence this month. So grab your wide-brimmed sun hat and join us Friday, 8/18, at 11 am PT/2 pm ET for an Instagram Live interview with Jill Barth, author, wine writer and co-leader of the French Winophiles blogging group.
Here are the posts going live 8/18 or 8/19:
- “Wishing I were spending Summer in Provence with a Roche Bellemont Rose” on A Day in the Life on the Farm
- “Summertime Lobster Roll and a Provence Rosè” on Our Good Life
- “Summertime and the Living is Easy. Especially in Provençe” on Side Hustle Wino
- More than Rosé: Pairing a Provençal Red with a Smoked Paprika-Rubbed Pork Chop on Culinary Cam
- “A Taste of Provence: Food and Wine Pairings” on Always Ravenous
- “French Rosé Wine from Provence and beyond” on Wine Predator
- “Mourvèdre rules Bandol vineyards during summer in Provence” on My Full Wine Glass
A bit of background
Bordered by the Rhône River to the west and Côte d’Azur to the east, Provence is a 150-mile-long, 100-mile-wide slice of heaven. Lots of sunshine. Not much rain. With the Mediterranean to moderate temperatures and the Mistral wind to keep vineyards dry and pest free. Throughout the region, the smell of lavender, rosemary, juniper and thyme – collectively called “garrigue” – permeates the air and lends itself to the character of wines.
Wine grapes thrive in the near-perfect growing conditions and diverse soils of Provence. In fact, the region stakes a claim as the birthplace of all French wine. Winemaking dates back to the ancient Greeks who inhabited the land some 26 centuries ago.
Nowadays, the region is best known for its sizeable production of rosé wines – 65,000 acres. Rosé accounts for nearly 88% of the wine produced in Provence, and the region accounts for 40% of all Appellation de’Origin Contrôlée (AOC) rosé production in France.
But that’s not all the wine made in Provence. While much smaller in volume, reds (9%) and whites (3.5%) also are produced – some, like the intense Bandol red wines, to high acclaim.
Nine main wine regions
The largest of the nine wine regions (AOC) in Provence is Côtes de Provence. If you’ve tasted a typically crisp, pale and delicate Provence rosé, it likely originated in this eastern half of the region. There are three subregions in Côtes de Provence: Fréjus, Sainte-Victoire and La Londe.
The west of Provence is dominated by the region’s second-largest and more varied appellation, Côteaux d’Aix-en-Provence.
Tiny Bellet, above the popular seaside town of Nice, is known for perfumy wines. The far west of Provence is home to the organic reds and rosés of Les Baux-de-Provence, a geologically distinctive subregion.
The warmest areas of Provence are those close to the Mediterranean between Marseille and Toulon. Protected from cold north winds by the coastal mountains, vineyards here stay reliably warm. Cassis is known for herby, full-bodied whites (not to be confused with the liqueur of the same name).
In my next post, I’ll be writing about sunny and hot Bandol, an ideal home for one of my favorite reds – heat-loving, late-ripening Mourvèdre.
Sources: Society of Wine Educators, Wine Folly, wine-searcher