Côteaux Varois en Provence is a key appellation in the Provence wine region in the far southeast of France. It was introduced in March 1993 to complement the Côtes de Provence title created 16 years earlier. It covers the vineyards of 28 communes North of Toulon, essentially constituting the western third of the Var department. Côteaux Varois wines are red, white and rosé, although the latter is the dominant colour (as is the case almost everywhere in Provence).
Rosés, which account for about 85% of total production, are essentially made from the same Grape varieties as the reds - namely the classic southern French cocktail of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsaut. These wines may also contain the traditional Provençal grapes Tibouren and Carignan. Tibouren is renowned for the spice it brings to rosés, while the less favoured Carignan was the subject of a large harvest in the early 21st century. Cabernet Sauvignon, imported from Bordeaux to Provence in the 1960s, is also allowed in small quantities.
Launched at London fine wine club 67 Pall Mall on 28 March, the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation (RVF) is the brainchild of Stephen Cronk, owner of Maison Mirabeau in Provence. Cronk, who has seen extreme weather events ranging from exceptional frosts to the worst forest fires in living memory in the three years he has owned Mirabeau, feels that one of the most important ways we can fight climate change is through ‘unlearning’ current approaches to land stewardship. ‘This is a critical moment ...
How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...
The world’s largest and most influential wine competition, Decanter World Wine Awards results offer a definitive guide to the dynamic world of wine. Each year’s results offer surprises and revelations, highlighting growth in quality and consistency – or lack thereof. An all-time record for wines tasted, discover the results from the 19th edition of the competition. Quick links to DWWA 2022 results Search all Best in Show medals Search all Platinum medals Search all Gold medals Search ...
