Producers near Saint Remy-de-Provence

Would appreciate suggestions about producers to visit near Saint Remy-de-Provence.

Brian Crabtree
Plymouth MI

You are not far from Les Baux de Provence and about 25 minutes from getting to parts of Chateauneuf du Pape.

Mas de Gourgonnier
Mas de la Dame
Domaine Travallon
Domaine Hauvette (this one is very close to St Remy I believe)

For olive oil, visit Moulin Castelas.

We stayed in St Remy for 5 days some years ago. Don’t recall any specific producers, but you are really close to the Les Baux, which is not only a really cool Cliffside town- literally carved from the rock, but also a bunch of wineries- not super exciting in terms of wine, but taste good while you are there.

As Don also mentioned, we day-tripped to Chateauneuf du Pape from St. Remy as well. If you need a list of places to visit there, I am sure lots of folks will have feedback. Also driving distance from Bandol (we visited the town, not any wineries) and many other named regions.

Thanks. Interested in Provence east of St. Remy, mostly. We’ve visited CdP before. Enjoyed it but looking for unexplored territory. Definitely interested in Bandol.

I believe Don nailed it. We particularly enjoyed our visit at Mas de Gourgonnier, and loved their olive oils as well.

Andrew

Just for the hell of it, I would seek out the tiny appellations of Palette (Château Simone) and Cassis (Domaine du Bagnol; Domaine de la Ferme Blanche).

Wherever you go, may you have starry nights!

A great person to visit is Clos Milan-just on the East side of town by the canal-an early natural wine producer-friend of Eric Texier-be prepared to spend some time if you ask the right questions.

Mas Gourgonnier has great wines and olive oil

Mas de la Dame and Terres Blanche are also good.

Call before you go to Hauvette as the Mrs told us to leave since we didn’t have an appt.

Just to the West is Costiere des Nimes-so if you are going to Arles or Tarascon that is an
area with some good QPR. Natalie at Carlot is a good tasting and her husband makes Mas Bressandes just down the road from her winery.

Trevallon is available in St Remy wine shops.

Go to Bistro Paradou in Paradou for lunch-reservations required.

near Paradou is a mini Pont du Gard-much less crowded.

We had a nice bottle of the 2017 Dom. de la Ferme Blanche [Cassis] over the weekend. Initially it was way too zingy, lemony so my SO added a splash of creme de cassis to hers to make a kir, while I just glugged it, ignoring the shrillness. But after being open a day or so it burred off some of the edges, and was actually very nice on a hot day poolside. It comes in a tall clear bottle and is a K&L direct import, so I doubt it’ll be widely available, but it’s a likeable example of its type. Lighter than I’d expect whites from the Southern France / Provence to be. 13% abv, and a B grade for me. I’m not sure I’d repurchase though.

Decent site here:

Mas Sainte-Berthe, Terres Blanches, Gourgonnier, Mas de la Dame.

If you want to head east, go out to Bonnieux, Lacoste, Ménerbes and all the way to Apt if you are up to it (this is the area of Peter Mayle’s novels and a gorgeous area). There are some good wines out in the Luberon.

Proven tourism board in English:

It’s a huge and wonderful area to explore.

funny enough, my wife and i ‘explored’ bonnieux, lacoste, menerbes and apt all in an afternoon this past september. we didnt care for the throngs of tourists in gordes or roussillon but enjoyed these towns quite a bit. we had a late reservation at bastide de marie.

While I highly recommend a visit to Bandol, keep in mind that it’s a 1.5 hour plus drive from St. Remy. Also remember that Bandol itself is a beach town. The wineries tend to be near Le Castellet and La Cadiere d’Azur.

Not sure so much in the COVID world, but because it is beach Bandol can be heaving with people this time of year, especially on a market day . I have dear friends with a house up in the hills in La Cadière and they don’t go near the coast from mid July to mid August. Great place to start in Bandol is the Oenotheque which is a cooperative site with many of the best producers available (at more or less ex cellar prices). Someone told me they opened a smaller operation in Catellet but never been there. My rec is for Vannières.

Yes, a very important point! The wineries are on the north side of the autoroute, well away from the pretty but crowded village.

Go to Bistro Paradou in Paradou for lunch-reservations required.


Better yet go for dinner. There is literally no menu choices for entrees except for the apps and soup, you get whatever they are cooking that night. This place is awesome for the atmosphere. The wine “list” is a bunch of bottles of CdP that they have lined up on the bar. Honestly a place like this could only exist in France. I ate there a few times and absolutely loved it. Winery visit suggestions are fine but this is a part of France where fussing about wines and vintages are beside the point. One of my favorite places on earth. Enjoy! (Hope you speak a bit of French. The locals in Provence may know English but they don’t use it much…)