Between
Marseille and Toulon, the villages of Cassis and Bandol are two small parts of
paradise for the tourists searching sea pleasures.
For
our biggest pleasure, wine growers produce white rosé and red wines which
accompany perfectly the Provençal cooking: fishes, shellfishes and naturally,
the bouillabaisse (fish soup).
Cross
these cellars, is the way to discover an aspect of the Provençal gastronomy, to
meet fascinated wine growers but also, an original way to visit these two unique
charming villages.
*
see fares and conditions.
CASSIS
Snuggled
up at the feet of the highest rock of France, Cassis looks like a theater decoration
which we discover from the balcony. It will be necessary to cross the pass of
Gineste since Marseille to reach this beautiful sleepy-city.
Rare
fact in Provence, where the majority of wines are rosé wines, the vineyard
of Cassis tends for a long time for the white wine. Vocation which represents
the three-quarters of the production today. Contrary to an usual idea, the vineyard
is not directed to the full South, the reserved domain of creeks. Planted exclusively
on the municipality of Cassis, the vineyard spreads out over hillsides of calcareous
soils, perfect for the culture of the white wine. Soil of white wine, Cassis obtained
the AOC (label of quality) in 1936. One of the first of France !
Marsanne,
sparkling white wine, ugni white and a suspicion of sauvignon bring to the Cassis'
whites wines coolness, curvature, liveliness and a finale finely iodized very
characteristic. Fruity and persevering in mouth, with notes of " rosemary, heather
and myrte "; wrote Frédéric Mistral who did not know much about the wine.
The
Cassis' white wine, with its aromas of citrus fruits, mango and white flowers
joins perfectly to the Mediterranean cooking, to the fishes with fat flesh as
the wolf or the scorpion fish, with shellfishes and more particularly with sea
urchins, the truths, those of the Mediterranean Sea, smaller and more fragrant
than their cousins of the Atlantic Ocean. For the purists wishing to taste in
more detail the flavours of the same soil, it is with the "chevrotin"
(goat's milk cheese) exclusively from Cassis, that white wine gets best married
!
At
feet of the Cap Cannaille, the vineyard of Cassis spreads up to the sea
BANDOL,
the provencal Star.
Imagine
an amphitheatre formed by woody mountains where from the massif of the Sainte
Baume peaks at 1147 m. The landscape is rough, the site is striking, the vineyard
of Bandol enjoys an exceptional microclimate. In its feet, the Mediterranean Sea
protects it from changes of temperature. On the heights, hills strewed with pine
forests and with oak forests stop the North wind.
The best lands being in side of hillside, the wine
growers built there gigantic restanques of dry stones. These Titans' construction
sites, begun by generations of "murailleurs" to avoid the erosion of grounds,
shaped the landscape.
Capricious,
the mourvèdre found in Bandol its soil of preference: three thousand hours of
annual period of sunshine offered to this vine with slow and difficult maturation.
Confidential in the other French vineyards where it matures generally very badly,
it brings to Bandol red wines harmony, elegance and a tremendous capacity in the
ageing, due to its antioxidizing power.
Associated
to the grenache and to the cinsault, offering respectively vigour and sharpness,
the mourvèdre spend 18 months in oak turns, indispensable time to mellow its tannique
and passionate temperament . Then five or six years are necessary that wine reveals
completely its elegant constitution in face of undergrowth and its noble character
with the aromas of black fruits, peony, spices, truffle and cinnamon.
