Discover Wine Folly the Essential Guide to Wines of Provence

Provence is blessed with a fantastic climate, especially for grapes! The region gets lots of sunshine and not too much rain with warm days and cool evenings. The Mediterranean moderates the temperatures and the famous “Mistral” wind keeps the vineyards dry, free of pests and the skies clear.

Viticultural Provence is comprised of 9 main regions (with sub-regions) of AOC “Appellation de’Origin Contrôlée.“

…Continue reading here for this article by Madeline Puckette the talented visionary behind Wine Folly. She is a musician, graphic designer and self-confessed wine geek. If you haven’t heard of Wine Folly, it’s a cool website and a user-friendly way to learn about wines of the world. Plus they sell great gifts for the wine geek on your shopping list.

More on Wines of Provence

The wines of Provence have an almost mythical attraction aided by the fact that the first non-indigenous vines were brought to Massalia (Marseille) by the Greeks in about 600 BC. These would have been the earliest intentionally cultivated grapes and certainly the first rosés in France. The Romans arrived in Nostra Provincia (“our province”) in approximately 125 BC and began the work of expanding their commodity trade routes. Read: Understanding the Colours and Terminology.

Wine writer Jill Barth shares details about the Center for Rosé Research (Centre de Recherche et d’Expérimentation sur le Vin Rosé) located in the small commune of Vidauban, situated in Provence in southeast France.

Victoria James honed her wine tastebuds early she achieved the rank of Certified Sommelier at 21-years old and Youngest Wine Director in a Michelin-starred restaurant (globally) shortly afterwards. Her first book Drink Pink a Celebration of Rosé was published in 2017.  Please read our book review and interview with this talented lady.

Maison Mirabeau Wine

Stephen had been in the corporate world for 15 years and in August 2008 turned down a promotion that would have meant more money but also more stress, longer hours and less time with his young family. For many years the Cronks had been dreaming and talking about moving to France to make their own wine, but the moment never seemed quite right to make the big leap.

Soon after, a good redundancy offer seemed the perfect opportunity to turn the dream into reality and after selling their beloved house, they left the leafy suburbs of south-west London in August 2009. Their worldly possessions were packed up on the back of a truck and with barely a word of French between them, the family headed south to a small village called Cotignac, in the heart of Provence.

The Cronks spent a year getting their bearings, learning to live the provençal way, as Stephen was criss-crossing the country researching and finding the best vineyards to work with. The next step was setting up a small wine business with the principle objective of making a Provence rosé that would be regarded as one of the very best from the region, while building a brand that people would grow to love. In order to achieve this aim, they put together a highly experienced winemaking team and threw their heart and soul into the brand and innovative communications with their customers. Mirabeau is now being sold in more than 30 markets, has won medals and earned acclaim from some of the world’s toughest wine critics, but what really makes Stephen happiest is that their wines are an integral part of people having a great time together.

Read more about the Mirabeau Wine story here.