Provence AOC

INAO describes the Côtes de Provence zone as having a Provençal-type Mediterranean climate: a long hot, dry season, mild and dry winters, and rainy autumns and springs. Its specification gives average annual temperatures of 15°C, annual rainfall of 600 to 900 millimetres and more than 2,700 hours of sunshine a year. The cold north and north-west winds, the Mistral, clear the sky and dry the atmosphere, and their influence decreases from west to east. JancisRobinson.com calls this mainland France's driest, sunniest climate, where fungal diseases are not the perennial threat they are elsewhere.

• INAO describes the Côtes de Provence zone as running from limestone lower Provence in the west and north to crystalline lower Provence (the Maures and Esterel) in the south and east
• The Maures massif is made of granite, gneiss and mica-schist, while the Permian depression around it has red or wine-coloured clay-sand soils formed on red sandstone and pelite, according to INAO
• Bandol sits in an amphitheatre open to the sea and sheltered from the Mistral, with an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine and 650 millimetres of annual rainfall, according to INAO's Bandol specification
• Coteaux Varois en Provence vineyards lie between 350 and 500 metres, under a Mediterranean climate with a semi-continental tendency, according to INAO

INAO's Côtes de Provence specification allows rosé to be made by saignée, skin maceration, draining (égouttage) or direct pressing, and requires wineries to have enough equipment to control the temperature of their fermentation vats. INAO describes Côtes de Provence rosés as pale pink, fruity (white fruit, citrus) or floral, often with mineral notes, round and lively. In Bandol, INAO notes that rosés are made by direct pressing, short maceration or saignée and must contain at least 20% Mourvèdre, which gives them a more tannic structure than other Provençal rosés.

• Permitted Côtes de Provence rosé methods are saignée, skin maceration, égouttage and direct pressing, according to INAO's specification
• Côtes de Provence wineries must have sufficient equipment to control the temperature of their fermentation vats, according to INAO's specification
• Bandol rosé must include at least 20% Mourvèdre, often 30% to 40%, according to INAO
• JancisRobinson.com notes that Provence is well suited to organic viticulture

Côtes de Provence is the most extensive Provençal vineyard, according to INAO, delimited across 84 communes: 68 in the Var, 15 in the Bouches-du-Rhône and one in the Alpes-Maritimes. Its specification allows five complementary geographic denominations: Cru Sainte-Victoire, Fréjus, La Londe, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame des Anges. Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence covered more than 4,100 hectares in 2009 across 47 communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône and 2 of the Var, and Coteaux Varois en Provence covers 28 communes of the Var, according to INAO. Among the smaller appellations, INAO places Cassis solely in the commune of Cassis, Bellet in the commune of Nice, Palette across three communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône, Les Baux de Provence across 8 communes of the Alpilles, and Pierrevert across 11 communes of the Alpes de Haute Provence.

• Rosé made up 70% of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence production and red wine 25% in 2009, according to INAO's specification
• Coteaux Varois en Provence is specialised in rosé, which makes up 90% of its production, according to INAO
• Cassis production is 70% white wine from a Marsanne-Clairette blend, 28% rosé and 2% red, according to INAO; the vineyard covered 204 hectares in 2009
• Bellet makes red (40%), rosé (30%) and white (30%) wines, with Braquet and Folle Noire marking the reds and rosés, according to INAO
• Pierrevert has a 450-hectare vineyard and production of 16,000 hectolitres, according to INAO's product page (consulted September 2026)
• Cru Sainte-Victoire, Fréjus, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame des Anges are reserved for red and rosé wines, while La Londe also covers white wine, according to INAO's specification

INAO's Côtes de Provence specification names Cinsault, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Tibouren as the principal varieties for red and rosé wines, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Caladoc, Carignan, Clairette, Rousseli, Sémillon, Ugni Blanc and Vermentino as accessory varieties. White Côtes de Provence is based on Clairette, Sémillon, Ugni Blanc and Vermentino. The specification credits Grenache and Tibouren with alcohol richness and roundness, Cinsault with finesse and elegance, Syrah with fruity aromas and Mourvèdre with ageing potential. JancisRobinson.com calls Tibouren "a local rarity which can add a certain herby scent to rosé" and describes Rolle (known elsewhere as Vermentino) as the region's most distinctive white grape.

• For Côtes de Provence red and rosé, principal varieties must make up at least 70% of an estate's plantings, with at least two present and none above 90%, according to INAO's specification
• Côtes de Provence Fréjus rosé requires Tibouren to make up at least 20% of plantings, according to INAO's specification
• Bandol whites are based on Clairette, which must make up at least 50%, according to INAO
• Bellet whites are made from Vermentino and Chardonnay, according to INAO
• The principal red and rosé varieties of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence are Cinsault, Counoise, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, according to INAO's specification

INAO's Côtes de Provence specification cites 2,600 years of wine tradition and says the Provençal vineyard truly took off under Roman rule. INAO's Bellet and Bandol texts trace vineyards to the Phocaeans in the fourth century BC. The name Côtes de Provence was first used officially in 1858, a defence syndicate for Côtes de Provence was created in 1941, and a simple appellation was recognised in 1943. Côtes de Provence was recognised as a VDQS in 1951, ministerial orders of 1953 and 1955 recognised 23 properties as crus classés, and the whole area gained AOC status in 1977, according to INAO. Cassis was among the six wine appellations created by the decree of 15 May 1936, and Bandol and Bellet were both recognised on 11 November 1941.

• Palette's history is tied to Château Simone, according to INAO: monks farmed the estate in 1551, it became Domaine la Simone after the Rougier family acquired it in 1838, and the Rougier family obtained the appellation in 1948
• Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence was recognised as a VDQS on 23 January 1956 and as an AOC by decree of 24 December 1985, according to INAO
• Les Baux de Provence was first a complementary geographic denomination of Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence before its recognition as an appellation on 20 April 1995, according to INAO
• Coteaux Varois was recognised as a VDQS in 1984 and as an appellation of origin in 1993, and took the name Coteaux varois en Provence in 2005, according to INAO
• The Cassis vineyard, wiped out by phylloxera, was rehabilitated from 1892, according to INAO

INAO notes that exports of Provence wines rose by 500% in 15 years, and that in 2016, 43% of Provence wine exports, very largely rosé, went to the United States. Within Côtes de Provence, Decanter reported in 2023 that many producers choose not to use the complementary geographic denominations on their labels: of the 500 hectares eligible for Fréjus, only 11 hectares declared it. Decanter reported in May 2025 that Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire had become the first cru of Provence, and INAO's specification records the addition of the word cru to the Sainte-Victoire name in 2025.

• In 2016, 43% of Provence wine exports went to the United States, according to INAO
• Decanter reported in 2023 that Château d'Esclans lies entirely within the Fréjus area but does not include Tibouren, so its wine is labelled as generic Côtes de Provence
• The Côtes de Provence base yield is 55 hectolitres per hectare, and INAO's specification sets 50 hectolitres per hectare for wines eligible for Cru Sainte-Victoire, Fréjus, La Londe and Notre-Dame des Anges
• Decanter reported in 2025 that cru status applies to the rosé and red wines from the Sainte-Victoire area

Primary sources (INAO): https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/cotes-de-provence-pierrefeu-rose-25207, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2025AOPCotesdeProvence.pdf, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2022AOPBANDOL.pdf, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2025CDCAOPCassis.pdf, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/cassis-blanc-23342, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/en/expo-90ans/9-six-premieres-aoc, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/palette-rouge-20024, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2023AOPPALETTE.pdf, https://extranet.inao.gouv.fr/fichier/PNO2025AOPCoteauxAixenProvence.pdf, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/coteaux-varois-en-provence-rouge-24576, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/les-baux-de-provence-rouge-18175, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/bellet-ou-vin-de-bellet-rose-9204, https://www.inao.gouv.fr/produit/pierrevert-rose-5998. Secondary sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/france/provence, https://www.decanter.com/premium/discovering-the-micro-crus-of-provence-plus-12-wines-to-seek-out-507167/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/provence-gains-its-first-cru-556409/. Last verified 2026-09-24