Provence’s Life Beyond Rosé: Visionary Producers See Potential in the Full Diversity of Southern Grapes and Terroir to Make Magnificent Red and White Wines.

This week’s selection is a trip through sun-kissed, lavender-scented Provence, home to a unique array of southern wines. Though almost exclusively associated with rosé, some of it lackluster, the region is increasingly focusing on quality as the fashion for dry and more serious rosé gathers steam. Provence has always been a cauldron of innovation, but only in such small quantities that much of it never leaves France. The reds in particular are ripe for discovery, seeming to fuse the best elements of Bordeaux with those of the Rhône. Our featured producers represent winemakers whose vinous roots reach deeply into the past and others who have an eye on the future. Both are portraits of Provence’s memorably rich and quintessentially French experience.

Provence’s Winescape: A Living Portrait of the Mediterranean

Few places on earth match Provence for aesthetics; from the crystalline sparkle of the Mediterranean Sea to the vine-clad hillsides and rolling pastures, it encapsulates the romance of Southern France. Bound by the Rhône River on one side and the sprawling elevations of the Côte d’Azur on the other, the terrain is not only storybook-charming, but delivers a range of wine-friendly terroirs protected from the Mistral winds that blow in from the north.

There is one natural feature found in Provençal seascapes that encompasses the rustic beauty found in the limestone hills and is reflected, note by note, in the wines—particularly the reds. Called ‘garrigue’ it is a collective term for the wild lavender, juniper, thyme and similar shrubs that grow wild throughout the appellation. ‘Garrigue’ is a term used frequently in Provençal tasting notes, and like ‘Herbes de Provence; refers to a sum of these minty herbal flavors—the essence of the experience.

Palette: Into the Provençal Hills with Altitude

The palette of Provence may suggest many things—the blues of Provençal skies and the Mediterranean, the greens of olive groves and cypress forests, the lavenders of garrigue.

But ‘Palette’ is also the name of a small appellation in the hills east of Aix. Covering the communes of Meyreuil, Le Tholonet and Aix-en-Provence itself, it encompasses 106 acres of limestone-rich elevations in the shadow of gleaming white Montagne Sainte-Victoire—an 11 mile ridge a that gives its name to the sub-appellation of Sainte-Victoire.

Palette becomes a palette in the spectrum of allowable grapes, 16 white wines and 15 reds, easily rivaling the massive encépagement of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Whites, reds and rosé ooze seamlessly from these calcic slopes.

Château Henri Bonnaud
Palette

Stéphane Spitzglous spent his boyhood dreaming about making wine at the Bonnaud estate. As Henri’s grandson, Stéphane used to ride with him on the tractor as soon as he was old enough to hang on. “Even before being passionate about wine, I was passionate about the earth,” he says. “If you look around at these landscapes, you will understand why I could not move away despite my grandfather’s recommendations. And those long days, sitting on the wing of his tractor, coming and going to the sound of the old engine, were my music.”

Stéphane Spitzglous, Château Henri Bonnaud

One of only three producers based in the tiny AOP Palette, the Bonnaud property’s 27 acres at the foot of Montagne Sainte-Victoire is blessed with a specific clay-limestone soil type called ‘langesse.’ So fecund is this earth that Henri Bonnaud also raised corn and wheat, reserving only vine-friendly sites for his wines. Since he did not consider farming to be a viable profession for the future, he urged Stéphane to forget about winemaking and stay in school.

Is it possible to have the best of both worlds? Stéphane thinks so. In 1996, after having earned a degree in Physics, his grandfather relented and handed him the keys to the tractor. He spent the next eight harvests in the local cooperative producing ‘garage wines,’ finally releasing his first vintage of Château Henri Bonnaud in 2004.

He dedicated the bottling to his grandfather, who passed away in 2001.

Having converted to organics in 2010, Stéphane says, “Our plots are located in a natural amphitheater, protected from the Mistral winds by the Langesse and Grand Cabri hills, and by the Cengle and Sainte-Victoire mountains; benefits from a microclimate. Our red-wine vines see an ideal sun exposure from sunrise to sunset while a few plots of north-facing land allow a perfect exposure for a slow maturation of our white grapes, and many are drawn from vines over sixty years old.”

Château Henri Bonnaud, 2019 Palette Red ($39)
A blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache and Vieux Carignan grown in Calcaire de Langesse soils, hand-picked and fermented on natural yeast with daily punching of the cap and pumping over which allow for the gentle extraction of complex tannins. The next 18 months are spent in barrels (50%) and big casks (50%).The dominant fruit notes are spiced Morello cherries and Crème de Cassis along with earthier tones of garrigue and minerals.

Château Henri Bonnaud ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2019 Palette Red ($53)
A Mourvèdre, Grenache and Vieux Carignan with an elegant and plush texture showing flavors of raspberry, cranberry, and strawberries lifted by exotic spices. The tannins have settled in and wrap the fruit in velvet leading to a bright floral finish.

Château Henri Bonnaud ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2023 Palette Rosé ($40)
Stéphane’s 2023 ‘Vieilles Vignes’ Rosé was awarded France’s Guide Hachette des Vins ‘Coup de Cœur.’ The cuvée originates from the estate’s oldest Mourvèdre, Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah vines in the pure limestone soils directly eroded from Sainte-Victoire’s mountainside. The grapes are hand-picked, sorted, and destemmed before being aged in French demi-muids and foudres for eight months. The wine shows watermelon and rich strawberry jam up front and matures into peach pie and finishes with an intriguing note of mocha.

Château Henri Bonnaud, 2023 Palette White ($36)
A blend of Clairette Blanche, Ugni Blanc and Grenache Blanc, the wine displays a powerful and complex nose with roasted notes, spices, citrus and exotic fruits; the palate is a harmony between white fruits, passionfruit and subtle notes of vanilla and sweet spices.

Château Henri Bonnaud ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2023 Palette White ($53)
Made from old-vine Clairette Blanche, Ugni Blanc and Grenache Blanc. After destemming, the grapes are sorted, then undergo cold maceration before being fermented in barrels, where they age for 8 months. The wine shows aromas of the fermentation made in barrels. The aging lasts 8 months. The nose shows hawthorn, acacia and coconut with notes of brioche and candied fruits, flavors that are echoed throughout the palate.

Château Simone
Palette

Despite the impeccable reputation of estates like Henri Bonnaud, the story of Palette is pretty much dominated by the name ‘Simone.’ This winery owns roughly half of the vineyards covered by the appellation limits. The historic estate sits on limestone on the slopes of Montaiguet at elevations between 500 and 750 feet above sea level and has been in the hands of the Rougier family for two centuries, who hold a virtual monopoly on the wines of Palette.

Jean-François Rougier, Château Simone

“Rougiers maintain vinification methods developed and cherished over many decades,” says seventh-generation vigneron Jean-François Rougier. “All the grapes are hand harvested, destemmed, lightly pressed and fermented for 15 to 20 days in small wooden vats with only wild yeast, then put into small foudre to rest on the lees. The white is predominantly Clairette, with small amounts of Grenache Blanc and Ugni Blanc, and a dash of Bourboulenc, Muscat Blanc, Picpoul, Furmint and Sémillon. Fermentation takes place at a relatively warm 68 degrees and ages for one year in 20–30 hl casks, then one year in older barrels. Our reds strive for elegance and great depth. It is primarily composed of Grenache and Mourvèdre but its special character reflects the presence of a mélange of other grape varieties, albeit in small proportion, including Cinsault, Syrah, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Castet, Manosquin, Théoulier, Tibouren, Picpoul Noir and Muscat de Hambourg. The rosé, incidentally, is the exact same blend.”

Jean-François’s great grandfather (the original Jean) rebuilt the vineyards in the aftermath of the phylloxera scourge, using selection massale cuttings, and established an organic farming regime for soil and vine health decades before it was a trend. This affords Jean-François an extraordinary array of old vines from which to draw fruit; most are over sixty years old.

Jean-François’s approach in the cellar is every bit as classic, and he is especially proud of his flagship white wine: “Key factors in our Vin Blanc is expansive richness coupled with mineral-tinged freshness, which is due to a high proportion of Clairette and the inhibition of malolactic fermentation by our frigid 16th-century cellars. Clairette is typically seen in only a supporting role elsewhere, but is the star of the show at Simone, contributing nuance and depth reminiscent of great white Burgundy.”

Château Simone, 2015 Palette Red ($95)
Made primarily from Mourvèdre and Grenache, the wine has developed beautifully, having gained complexity and tertiary aromas. Still evident are black cherry/plum above a subsurface of dried florals and damp forest floor. The tannins, once forward, have also integrated well.

Château Simone, 2017 Palette White ($98)
Made primarily from old-vine Clairette Blanc, Château Simone’s white wine has a unique character due to the estate’s high-altitude, north-facing amphitheater and limestone soil. Golden with maturity, the wine is unctuous and rich, overflowing honeydew and peach.

Bandol: Distinctive by Nature, Contained by Hills

It may be impossible to find a region where the winemaking pedigree is more impressive; Phoenicians were fermenting grapes here 2500 years ago, long before the Romans showed up and named the wine ‘Massilia.’ As the late-afternoon Bandol heat sends wafts of violet, black pepper and thyme into the air above an azure sea, it’s easy to see why this seacoast resort town has been both a destination and a home since prehistory.

About an hour’s drive east from Marseille, the microclimate that sets Bandol apart from the rest of Provence is the result of altitude and its natural amphitheater; the vines are planted on steep hills where the soils are composed of limestone, red clay and silica sand and the vines are protected from the harshest winds by the natural bowl formed in the low coastal mountain ranges between La Ciotat and Toulon. This combination of features makes it ideal for ripening finicky, late-budding Mourvèdre, which might otherwise be challenged by the proximity of the Mediterranean.

Domaine des Trois Filles
Bandol (La Cadière-d’Azur)

Audrey Arlon, current winemaker at Domaine des Trois Filles is one of the filles. The estate was named for her and her two sisters (Léonie and Justine) by their parents. Now, after having learned the craft and honed her skills at Domaine Ott and Domaine du Gros ‘Noré, Audrey has taken over her family’s vines in La Cadière-d’Azur.

Léonie and Audrey Arlon, Domaine des Trois Filles

“We farm 22 acres of old, goblet-trained vines co-planted with rye, fava beans, clover and radish sprout in between the rows,” Audrey explains. “This begins the process to combat global warming and keep the soil healthy. In the spring, we fold the cover crops into the earth to protect the soil while keeping humidity and maintaining a low temperature in the increasingly hot weather of Southern France. Giving natural aeration to the roots and better development of earthworms, we can to limit the spread of weeds, create greater biodiversity, and promote microbial life in the soil.”

Trois Filles is a family affair, and with the three sisters at the helm, it presents some interesting challenges. Audrey admits that it can be a struggle to balance the demands of motherhood with winemaking: “There are times, such as harvest, that require one’s full and undivided attention. And yet, from a physical point of view today, the evolution of the equipment allows us to force ourselves less, so we can do almost anything.”

Domaine des Trois Filles, 2020 Bandol ($35)
75% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache and 5% Cinsault from goblet vines grown on a clay-limestone hillside. Hand harvested into crates, gently macerated with native fermentation in stainless steel and aged in barrels for 18 months. A muscular core of earthy dark fruit is highlighted by classic leather, garrigue, underbrush and sweet black raspberry notes.

Domaine Marie Bérénice
Bandol (Le Castellet)

The first time Lyle Railsback, wine importer at France+Western tasted a bottle of Domaine Marie Bérénice, he exclaimed, “This Bandol Rouge has the aromas of Mourvèdre as thrilling as anything in Provence. And as exciting as older, cellared examples of Bandol can be there is something so captivating and primal about drinking a Bandol red on release, in its youth.”

Damien Roux, Domaine Marie Bérénice

As Domaine de Trois Filles was named for the daughters of the original owner, so is Domaine Marie Bérénice a tribute to Damien Roux’s daughter. Marie Bérénice was born into a long line of grape growers in Bandol, although historically the family sold their fruit to other estates. Damien, who made wine for another winery in the area, decided to begin releasing under his own label. The family farm, between the villages of La Cadière and Castellet and only a stone’s throw from the fabled beaches of Saint-Tropez, consists of 35 acres of clay and limestone terraces, where the work, done by hand, is certified organic.

In the cellar, Damien vinifies using wild yeasts and relies on long macerations. He ages his reds in large foudres for eighteen months before bottling without any fining or filtration.

Domaine Marie Bérénice, 2021 Bandol ($35)
90% Mourvèdre and 10% Grenache. Pie spices and leather lend a savory profile while the fruit is filled in with vibrant notes of cranberry, blackberry and cassis, with cedar, and tobacco appearing on the finish.

Domaine Marie Bérénice ‘Les Faremberts, Cuvée Simone’, 2021 Bandol ($39)
90% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, the wine underwent a long maceration followed by 18 months in large oak barrels. A great, old-style Bandol showing cedar box, baking spices, blueberries and leather.

Domaine Roche Redonne
Bandol (La Cadière-d’Azur)

Founded in 1979 by Henri and Geneviève Tournier, Roche Redonne is situated among the Bandol foothills surrounded by olive groves and garrigue scrub just outside the pretty village of La Cadière d’Azur. The 30-acre vineyard is farmed using organic methods and the vines now average more than 40 years, with the youngest vines at 20 years and the oldest at 60 years. The yields are kept low, and in fitting with the appellation laws, the steeply hilled vineyards is harvested by hand.

Guilhem Tournier, Domaine Roche Redonne

Domaine Roche Redonne ‘Cuvée Les Bartavelles’, 2019 Bandol ($69)
‘Bartavelles’ means ‘Royal Partridges’, and there is certainly a noble delivery here: 95% Mourvèdre and 5% Grenache grown on blue marl base with a layer of clay on top, the wine displays a fruity nose with a touch of smoke; the palate is filled with cherry compote and sweet spice, with a full and textured finish of superb length.

Domaine de la Bégude
Bandol (Le Castellet)

Located at the highest point in Bandol (1400 feet) La Bégude was once a stopover inn on the road from Marseille to Toulon, a shelter for the night where you could find ‘beguda’—the local Provençal wine with a name drawn from the Catalan language.

The Roulleau family purchased Domaine de La Bégude in 2022, making them only the fifth family to own the estate since the Middle Ages. Appointing Laurent Fortin as Managing Director. According to Fortin, the goal in overseeing the estate is “To keep the same pioneering spirit while daring to break the codes to offer a unique vision of wine in the heart of this exceptional vineyard.”

Fortin, who has managed Roulleau-owned Château Dauzac since 2016, says, “The Roulleau family fell in love with this site, these exceptional terroirs set in the garrigue and these wines with strong personality. We are following in the footsteps of the Tari family to make La Bégude shine at the top of the Bandol appellation. The challenge is exciting, in the continuity of Château Dauzac, to build a family group of inspired vineyards.”

Domaine de la Bégude

The synergy between the Tari and Roulleau clans has been immediately apparent, both in viticultural dynamism and in the spirit that shares the common value of respect for nature and biodiversity. Under the Tari family, Bégude was a place of natural agro-forestry, home to the International Conservatory of Mourvèdre, which farms an exceptional vine collection of 150 Mourvèdre varieties, the largest in the world. Going forward, the intention is to reinforce and maintain this collection.

The estate itself encompasses more than 1200 acres, of which 75 are under vine—65% Mourvèdre, 25% Grenache and 10% Cinsault, now at an average age of 25 years. The vineyards sit at elevations exceeding 1300 feet, and as such, are among the highest in the appellation. The plan is to increase the cultivation to 100 acres over the next few years and to continue to produce Bégude’s hallmark rich, acidic, fruit-driven wines that develop in the cellar with elegance. The Roulleaus are proud to age their own wines in the old chapel of Miséricorde of Conil, dating from the 7th century—a vestige of the presence of the Abbey of Saint Victor on the estate.

Domaine de la Bégude ‘La Brulade’, 2017 Bandol ($96)
Mourvèdre 95%, Grenache 5% grown in ferruginous sandstone over limestone. The grapes were double sorted, completely destemmed and allowed a long maceration with regular manual punching down for optimal phenolic extraction. Fermentation occurred on the grapes’ natural yeasts and malolactic fermentation carried out during the aging in French oak tuns. Cedar dust, cut cigars, blackberries and a wild mix of dried Mediterranean herbs appear on the nose and linger into a licorice-tinged finish.

Domaine de la Bégude ‘Cadet de la Bégude’, 2020 IGP Méditerranée ($25)
* Although it covers only the eastern portion of France’s Mediterranean coast (as well as Corsica), the IGP Méditerranée title also goes a considerable distance inland. It extends over ten departments (including the two on the island of Corsica) as well as covering smaller parts of Isère, Loire and Rhône.

34% Mourvèdre, 33% Cinsault, 33% Grenache, this wine underwent total destemming, fermentation by the grape’s natural yeasts and long maceration before aging in stainless steel. Medium-bodied and supple, the wine shows underbrush and sweet black raspberry notes on the nose.

Domaine La Bastide Blanche
Bandol (Le Castellet)

Michel and Louis Bronzo purchased Bastide Blanche in the ‘70s in the belief that the terroir could produce a wine to rival those of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. With that in mind, the brothers planted Carignane, Cinsault, Clairette, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Vintage 1993 proved to be their breakaway year, putting both Bandol and themselves on the wine map. The estate is located in the foothills of Sainte-Baume Mountain, five miles from the Mediterranean Sea on land that is primarily limestone scree.

Michel Bronzo, right, Domaine La Bastide Blanche

Bastide Blanche has been certified Biodynamic since 2020. According to Louis Bronzo, “True to our terroir, all our wines are organic and Biodyvin certified. To preserve nature and protect everyone’s health, we work tirelessly to improve our farming practices. We owe the earth our loyalty, especially since we have blessed with our environment, at the foot of the Sainte-Baume mountain, just a few kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. Our soil is predominantly limestone, which is ideal for our dozen grape varieties.”

Michel adds, “As is required of Bandol producers, all our grapes are harvested by hand—a practice that makes it possible to finely sort the bunches during harvest and to better protect the fruit until it reaches the cellar.”

Domaine La Bastide Blanche, 2019 Bandol ($33)
Predominantly Mourvèdre (around 73%) with smaller contributions by Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Carignan, the wine is Bandol-big with crushed blackberries, raspberries and warm cherry pie. Lively, mouthwatering and concentrated with great mid-palate intensity.

Domaine La Bastide Blanche, 2024 Bandol Rosé ($29)
Bastide Blanche is said to produce one of the most food-friendly rosés in Bandol, being generally full and round with lots of palate cleansing acidity. A blend of Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Cinsault, it offers a complex nose of floral a citrus with notes of Sichuan pepper and dried apricot.

Les Baux-de-Provence: On the Alpilles Range

Fewer places offer a more panoramic view of the Provençal vista—a spread of rugged farms, vineyards and olive groves—than Les Baux de Provence, a tiny hilltop village in the Alpilles hills. The Baux de Provence appellation was introduced as a VDQS in 1956 and promoted to AOP status in 1995. Besides the eponymous village, it covers seven other communes: Fontvieille, Maussane-les-Alpilles, Mouries, Paradou, Saint-Étienne-du-Grès and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

Its proximity to Rhône must be noted to understand these wines; wedged between the Rhône delta to the south and Avignon to the north, the culture may be distinctly Provençal, but the wines are tinged with Southern Rhône—in fact, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is only 20 miles to the north. As a result, Les Baux wines are predominantly high-quality reds and rosés made from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre tinged with aromas of mountains herbs, black olives, violets and blackberry jam.

Domaine Hauvette
Les Baux-de-Provence

Nestled among the foothills of Les Alpilles, amid landscapes made famous by Van Gogh, Dominique Hauvette served as a backdrop for Dominique Hauvette’s re-birth. Formerly a Savoie lawyer, she opted to leave the rat race, seek out more sunshine, indulge her passion for raising horses and the study of oenology. Thirty-some years later, Dominique now has 42 acres of vines and a low-tech and decisively non-interventionist stance which has earned her an international reputation for making benchmark natural wines.

Dominique Hauvette, Domaine Hauvette

She describes her situation and terroir like this: “Domaine Hauvette is two islands of vineyards within a 1.5 miles radius around the cellar; all the vineyards are on the northern side of the Alpilles, a white bright limestone mount culminating at 1,600 ft. Facing north, the microclimate is a little cooler, and strangely a little less affected by the Mistral that bumps over the Alpilles to blow stronger on the southern side. The terroir is mostly lacustrine limestone from the Cretaceous, full of fossils. Some veins of red clay run through certain plots. One specificity of the area is the “Terres Blanches” also called “Tuffeau”, which have nothing in common with either the Sancerre’s Kimmeridgian marls nor the Touraine Tuffeau. Here, it refers to compressed veins of this Cretaceous limestone so hard and impenetrable that it looks like cement. The first time I saw, I thought somebody had poured cement and covered it back with top soil! It requires a special tool to crack apart the layers when planting, but when I saw what it could produce, it became my favorite vineyard.”

Domaine Hauvette ‘Cornaline’, 2012 Les Baux-de-Provence ($54)
50% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, proving that Dominique’s unconventional approach to winemaking pays great dividends. Garrigue, especially thyme and lavender, accent tertiary notes of fig, smoke and leather.

* 2012 will remain in Provençal wine makers’ memories as one of the smallest harvests in recent years, due primarily to early hail and prolonged drought. The grapes that survived were concentrated and of high quality.

Domaine Hauvette ‘Amethyste’, 2016 IGP Alpilles Provence ($98)
60% Cinsault, 30% Carignan and 10% Grenache, Dominique Hauvette considers this wine an homage to Cinsault, highlighting the fresh, low-alcohol styles that are increasingly in vogue in southern France. Amethyste was aged for a year in concrete eggs in order to maximize the minerality of the finished product, which displays great finesse with notes of cherry and garigue beneath velvety tannins and the wet-stone finish.

* 2016 saw an unusual scourge to compliment the drought; reports mention wild boars decimating vineyards, so apparently, this is not an annual phenomenon. In any case, the harvest was small, but excellent.

Côtes-de-Provence: The Omnibus Catchall

The massive Côtes-de-Provence sprawls over 50,000 acres and incorporates a patchwork of terroirs, each with its own geological and climatic personality. The northwest portion is built from alternating sub-alpine hills and erosion-sculpted limestone ridges while to the east, and facing the sea, are the volcanic, crystalline Maures and Tanneron mountains.

In fact, eight production areas make up the appellation: Bordure Maritime, Notre-Dame des Anges, Haut Pays, Bassin du Beausset, Sainte-Victoire, Fréjus, La Londe and Pier Eight production areas make up the appellation: Bordure Maritime, Notre-Dame des Anges, Haut Pays, Bassin du Beausset, Sainte-Victoire, Fréjus, La Londe and Pierrefeu. From these, four terroir designations are (currently) recognized, each producing wines with a pronounced typicity: Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire, Côtes de Provence Fréjus, Côtes de Provence La Londe and Côtes de Provence Pierrefeu. The majority of Provençal vineyards are turned over to rosé production, which it has been making since 600 B.C. when the Ancient Greeks founded Marseille.

Clos de l’Ours
Côtes-de-Provence

L’Ours translates to ‘bear’—the Brotons family identity and an affectionate nickname for their patriarch, Michel. In 2008, Michel and his wife Fabienne sold the family jewelry business in Marseille to pursue a winemaking dream in Provence, finding a 32-acre estate in a northern corner of Côtes de Provence planted to old vine Rolle, Clairette and Ugni Blanc, used for their white wine portfolio and Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Carignan for their red and rosés.

Fabienne, Michel Broton and children Emilie & Fabien, Clos de l’Ours

The ‘clos’ in the name is entirely natural; the vineyards are completely enclosed by pine and oak forest. Organic farming practices were implemented in 2000 and they have been certified biodynamic and organic since ’21. Though the Brotons family has only owned the winery since 2012, they rely on Daniel Abiral, formerly of Domaine du Tempier, La Bastide Blanche, and Domaine de la Tour de Bon, to guide them.

Clos de l’Ours ‘Le Chemin’, 2019 Côtes-de-Provence ($36)
Meaning ‘The Way,’ this blend of 37% Grenache, 34% Mourvèdre and 29% Syrah was made with a minimum of intervention, wild yeast and no filtration. The wine shows dried raspberry and cassis behind firm acidity and integrated tannins.

Clos de l’Ours ‘L’Agachon’, 2019 Côtes-de-Provence ($36)
Half Cinsault and half Carignan from 65-year-old vines in the L’Agachon lieux-dit. Harvested by hand, the wine saw a three-week maceration in vats with light pumping over, then aged one year in oak barrels and another six months in vats. It shows aromas of ripe red cherries, ripe raspberries, black pepper and game fat appear with smoke and orange peel on the finish.

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Posted on 2025.06.21 in Les Baux-de-Provence, Bandol, Palette, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Provence