Côteaux d'Aix-en-Provence is one of the main French appellations in the Provence wine region, located in the extreme southeast of the country. It is the second largest appellation in the region, with about 4,000 hectares North and west of Aix-en-Provence - the town from which it takes its name. The area also bears the tiny title of AOCPalette. The Côteaux d'Aix-en-Provence appellation was first introduced as a VDQS in 1956, having been informally known as Côteaux du Roy René (René d'Anjou being a 15th century French king famous for his love of wine and the Vine).
Full AOC status was granted in December 1985. The wines of Côteaux d'Aix-en-Provence are, in that order of importance, rosé, red and white wines. The rosés and reds are made from a Complex blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsaut and Counoise, with Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon making up to 30% of these blends. The white wine of the appellation is made from an equally complex hierarchy of grape varieties, both local and borrowed.
Bourboulenc is mainly grown in the southern part of France. It is a white grape variety that ripens quite late. It can only be harvested around 25 September and for an average of only one month. Bourboulenc is particularly fond of low-lying, but at the same time warm and dry locations. The aroma of this grape variety is not very pronounced, but it has a certain exotic fruit and floral aroma such as broom. The result is a low alcohol wine with subtle and fleeting aromas. Blanquette, bourboulanc, bourboulenque, doucillon, clairette dorée and clairette blanche are all names that can designate bourboulenc. This grape variety is very sensitive to diseases common to all vine plants such as magnesium deficiency, mildew and oidium. Bourboulenc can be used as a table grape. Most French people keep the bunches until Christmas in order to present them on the festive table as desserts.
wines from the region of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence go well with generally quite well with dishes of rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), shellfish or poultry such as recipes of salmon with sorrel, curried mouclade à la charentaise or chicken wrap.
In the mouth in the region of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence is a with a nice freshness.
I’d like to say we took advantage of the lockdown and its related commotion to do a stock-take, explore new avenues, turn over intriguing stones, widen and deepen our drinking, taking careful notes as we went. Sadly, no. I won’t say we got stuck in a rut, but we did tend to stick with comfort wines – and “comfort”, in our case, means familiar. Regular readers of this quarterly column can probably guess the labels on the resulting empties. We have a wider range of comfort foods, I’m afraid, than ...
Lamballe, CEO of window manufacturer FenêtréA, purchased the 25-hectare property Kerfraval in the village of Baden, near the natural harbour of the Gulf of Morbihan, in March 2022. Sallaud will transform Kerfraval into a wine estate, named Domaine Lamballe, comprising a winery – where he will make still and sparkling wine – a visitor centre and six gites. ‘We will plant 10ha of Chardonnay in April this year to make still and sparkling wines,’ Sallaud told Decanter. ‘Mr Lamballe loves Chablis, he ...
Decanter attended Tesco’s spring/summer 2022 portfolio tasting at the end of April where over 140 wines were on show, 38 of which are new to the range. In anticipation of the full list of top buys, to follow soon, we’ve rounded up a few of our favourites to get you in the mood for spring. Tesco’s wine buying team highlighted 24 wines as their must-try buys, and five of these have featured in our initial spring roundup below. We think they showcase the diversity of the Tesco range and the value t ...
