Provence Winery / Vineyard Recommendations

You might enjoy Mas de la Dame winery and for olive oil Les Castelas both near St Remy and Les Baux. We stayed in Maussane les Alpilles last summer which is right there too. Would be good for lunch stop. There are several lovely places right on the town square. And if you think you might like that area the tourist info website for MLA has a good local products segment where you can see other ideas.

https://maussane.com/en/discovering-the-area/gourmet-land/

Enjoy the planning!

There are dozens of wineries in Provence, rosé wine is particularly famous there.

Here is a website where you will find interesting information about Provence wines, including the best Provence wines of the 2023 competition:

https://www.vinsdeprovence.com/en

If you want to avoid those who do business with tourists arriving by bus on organized tours, take your car and explore the region you will see roadside signs with the mention "Vente et Dégustation" (sale and tasting) indicating wineries.

And here some examples of Provence wine routes (in French)

https://www.routedesvinsdeprovence.com/routes/

An example of an itinerary between Toulon and Saint Tropez could be this one. Most are now organic

Château Valetanne

https://www.chateau-la-valetanne.com/en/

Château Pas Du Cerf

https://www.pasducerf.com/en/

The domains of the Ravel family:

Château Montaud, Château l'Oasis, Château Guiranne, Château Garamache

https://terresderavel.com/en/

Château La Gordonne

https://www.lagordonne.com/home

Château Farambert (organic wines, gold medal 2023 for rosé de Provence)

https://farambert.com/

It goes without saying that driving and drinking alcohol are not compatible.
In France with more than 2 glasses of wine you risk a heavy fine and the immobilization of your car.

During tastings, it is best to spit out the wine if you don't want to take any risks.

We are planning on getting a private driver for the day. Thanks for the great recommendations!

We just did a private tour with Francois Marcos - “Avignon WIne Tour” recommended by RS. He has several tours available and will take you to some great independents. It was a great day with no worries about drinking/driving. Email is : [email protected]. WWW.avignon-wine-tour.com

You will find most wine tasting experiences in Provence to be pretty low key relative to say, Napa Valley or even places in Bourgogne or Alsace. There are some more touristy coops and larger domaines, but even those are nothing like the big places in better known regions. The Southern Rhone region at the northern end of Provence is probably the best for reds, but many out of the way wineries are true gems and good rose can be found in many places. (You may need reservations). We quite enjoyed our self-guided tour of the Southern Rhone/Ventoux area, north of Avignon last Fall on an extended weekend away.

Another wine guide that is often recommended is Olivier Hickman of Wine Uncovered. Link

If you are intersected in a guided tour I give the highest rating possible to Olivier Hickman. We engaged him twice last summer with two different sets of friends. One group newer to wine but enthusiastic and one group with a lot of experience. He was great with both. Really tailored to what each group was. Had a fabulous time. One time we met him in Chateau Neuf du Pape. Another time he arranged taxi service from our rental house.

I meant to include that for both once we met up with him he then drove us around in a van. We were 6 or 8 so needed the van. But I think if you are only a couple he drives you in his own car.