Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence
🇫🇷 France
AOC Rare findAOC 1985 - The second-largest and most WESTERN Provence appellation, where BORDEAUX MEETS PROVENCE through pioneering Cabernet Sauvignon plantings
Region profile
History
Romans planted vines 2,000 years ago between Rians and Jouques. The wines were prized by European Royal Courts in the 15th century. The modern revolution began in the 1960s when Georges Brunet - former owner of Bordeaux Third Growth Château La Lagune - purchased an estate north of Aix and planted the FIRST CABERNET SAUVIGNON IN PROVENCE using cuttings from his Bordeaux estate. He renamed it Château Vignelaure (after Petrarch's muse Laura) and the first vintage (1970) was nearly 100% Cabernet. The wine became instantly famous. When AOC rules were created in 1985, they accommodated Vignelaure's Cabernet-forward style.
- Climate
- Mediterranean heavily influenced by the Mistral wind (up to 100 days/year); limestone and clay soils; vineyards between 300-450m elevation provide cooler nights than coastal zones
- Signature wines
- Château Vignelaure Rouge - the estate that BROUGHT CABERNET TO PROVENCE; now owned by Danish couple Mette and Bengt Sundstrøm who converted to organic (certified 2018); 70%+ Cabernet Sauvignon aged 4 years before release; winemaker Philippe Bru continues the legacy; ~€30 for a piece of Provence history
- What sets it apart
- Where Bordeaux ambition met Provençal sunshine - Georges Brunet's audacious Cabernet plantings in the 1960s proved Provence could make serious age-worthy reds, not just summer rosé; the only Provence AOC where Cabernet is truly celebrated
Facts
- Second-largest Provence AOC at 4,200 hectares
- Cabernet Sauvignon permitted up to 30% - UNIQUE in Provence
- the 1985 AOC rules were literally shaped around Château Vignelaure's Cabernet plantings
- Robert Parker (1987): "Two of Provence's greatest red wines are made here - Domaine de Trévallon and Château Vignelaure"
Region profile from the Wine Memories wine-data corpus · verified January 2026