The AOC Côtes de Provence is the largest appellation in the Provence wine region of southeastern France. It covers about 20,000 hectares of vineyards, which produce the vast majority of Provence's rosé wine. This appellation includes most of the vineyards in the Var department - essentially the eastern half of the Provence wine region - with the exception of 2,250 hectares North of Toulon which are reserved for the Côteaux Varois en Provence appellation. Although it also covers red and white wine, about 80% of Côtes de Provence production is rosé.
This wine is mainly made from the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsaut grapes, as well as the quintessential Provence red Tibouren. Although clearly a minority, the Volume of red wine produced under this title (and elsewhere in Provence) is increasing and currently represents about 15% of the total. Grapes such as the three key Rhone varieties mentioned above and Cabernet Sauvignon (introduced here in the 1960s) are being used by a New wave of winemakers eager to demonstrate that rosé is not the only interesting wine in the region. Only about five percent of Côtes de Provence wines are made from white grapes, particularly Rolle (Vermentino).
The white Chardonnay is a grape variety that originated in France (Burgundy). It produces a variety of grape specially used for wine making. It is rare to find this grape to eat on our tables. This variety of grape is characterized by small bunches, and small grapes. White Chardonnay can be found in many vineyards: South West, Burgundy, Jura, Languedoc & Roussillon, Cognac, Bordeaux, Beaujolais, Savoie & Bugey, Loire Valley, Champagne, Rhone Valley, Armagnac, Lorraine, Alsace, Provence & Corsica.
white wines from the region of Côtes de Provence go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, mature and hard cheese or rich fish (salmon, tuna etc) such as recipes of pasta bolognese, cake with smoked bacon, prunes and comté cheese or baked whole salmon.
On the nose in the region of Côtes de Provence often reveals types of flavors of tree fruit, melon or red fruit and sometimes also flavors of apricot, microbio or citrus fruit.
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 ...
After years of rumour that Moët-Hennessy, part of the LVMH luxury goods group, was buying Château Minuty – and years of denial – the sale was officially announced on the final day of Wine Paris on Wednesday 15 February, creating a ripple of gossip, speculation and discussion around the fair. Throughout France, and even globally, Minuty has long been seen as the ultimate expression of Provence rosé. It’s thanks to Minuty’s success that many producers outside of Provence have emulated its style. C ...
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 ...
