Sainte-Victoire Wine Day: Organic and Experimental Wineries, Olive Oils, Picnic, Pétanque

This day uses wine to get at Provence as a whole: the food, the land and the way people live in the Sainte Victoire Valley. The host calls the valley home and leads a walk through it, off the usual tourist paths. The Côtes de Provence Sainte Victoire appellation has only 31 producers, and the host explains what makes it particular. Two wineries show two approaches. The first is an organic estate where the tasting covers wine production, the art of tasting and the best gastronomic cuvées. The second works on creativity and experimentation, with grape varieties rarely found in Provence, several styles of rosé and a guided tasting of local olive oils. The day finishes in a hilltop village with a picnic prepared by the host. It has local saucisson, olives, goat cheese, figs, lavender honey, herbs and three different olive oils. An apéritif and a game of pétanque come first, and a rosé from another winery, made with entirely different grape varieties, is opened with the food.