Wine tour in Côte de Provence

2022 will be a great year in Provence

It looks like 2022 will be a great year in Provence. It has been a very hot and sunny summer, so the harvesting started 1-2 weeks earlier than normal.
On a rainy day in mid-September we did a wine tasting tour to four different winemakers just over 1 hours drive from Nice. I prefer to visit smaller wineries with a more personal approach to the visitors, even if there are also many big, well-known caves in that area.

Château des Demoiselles - friendly with nice wine

First we went to Château des Demoiselles. This is a small, nice and friendly winery of 72 hectares. 80% of the production is rose and it’s classified as “Sustainable winemaker” .The harvest takes place during the night to preserve the freshness, and produces the popular fresh rose wines.
It is a very simple place, but the lady who was doing the tasting was very nice and professional.
They produce two series; Charmes des Demoiselles and Château des Demoiselles. We bought Charmes des demoiselles rosé 2021 that is a perfect aperitif wine for 10 euros. And the red Château de Demoiselles 2017 for 15 euros. This is a typical Côte de Provence and very nice.

A nice address with nice wine to reasonable prices.

Château Sainte Roseline - too commercial

Next we went to Chateau Sainte Roseline which has the same owner as Chateau des Demoiselles. They were one of the first estates in Provence to invest a lot in wine tourism. It’s a Cru classe estate of 110 hectares.
This place was very commercial and toursity, but beautiful and very well organised.
At the entrance stand a big sculpture by Jaume Plensa
They are famous for their original bottles Lampes de Meduse.

They also sell other wines and champagnes from partner companies in the shop.
We thought the wine was too expensive for what it was and we didn’t buy anything

Château Clarettes - a small domain with a big red wine

10 minutes away we found Château Clarettes, A bit off the road, after passing by the mediaeval village of Les Arcs sur Argens.
This domain of only 13 hectares was bought in 2011 by two Finns and a Swede. They are very active in developing the domain. It’s small but very nice and friendly. The woman in the shop was also very professional.

We bought Thérapie rosé, a nice aperitif wine to a reasonable price of 9 euro.
The red Château Clarettes Grand cuvee 2016 is very good red wine with Mourvèdre and Syrah grapes for 16.50 euro. We had it for dinner the same evening with red meat and it was delicious, but it can also be stored a few years more.
We also tasted Mistral noir, a 100% merlot and found it surprisingly good.

Lunch stop at “Le Moulin de la Gardiole”

Then it was time for lunch and we got a nice recommendation from Château Clarettes to go to “Le Moulin de la Gardiole” in Trans en Provence
It was a typical French countryside place. We had fish and it was ok, together with a glass of local rosé wine of course.

Château St Roux - a nice surprise

The last stop for the day was at Château St Roux.
This was a nice surprise, very cosy and welcoming ambiance.
They have 99 acres of Côtes de Provence AOC and IGP vines and produce five organic wines: three rosés with different personalities, a white and a red.
We were seduced by the special offer of the Chateau St. Roux rose 2021 Bio “Buy 6 bottles get 6 for free” which brings the price to 8,25 euro /bottle. This wine is recommended to serve with a meal of fish or white meat.

Besides wine activities they also produce organic and fresh goat cheese, homemade bread, and vegetables from the garden are served in the restaurant. It’s possible to stay overnight at the guest rooms.

We will be back!