Domaines Ott

Three estates in two appellations, each with its own tasting room, mean the same house can be tasted three ways in a single trip across Provence. Château de Selle sits inland on gypsum and red clay, Clos Mireille runs down to the Mediterranean on schist, and Château Romassan works Mourvèdre in Bandol. Guided tours run about 45 minutes and must be reserved.

Each estate keeps a dedicated tasting area pouring rosé, white and red, and a wine shop alongside it. The guided tour is a separate product: roughly 45 minutes, by reservation only, and available until 2 October. Tours are subject to availability. The house does not publish a tour price or a tasting fee — both are settled by telephone with the estate.

Guided tours are seasonal and the house dates them: available until 2 October, subject to availability. The wine shops and tasting rooms publish weekday and Saturday hours year-round, with no stated closure months, so the shops outlast the tours. What replaces the guided tour after early October is not published. Saturday afternoons close at the same 18.30 as weekdays but open an hour later.

Wine shops and tasting rooms open Monday to Friday 9.00–13.00 and 14.00–18.30, and Saturday 10.00–13.00 and 14.00–18.30. No Sunday hours are published. Guided tours run about 45 minutes, by reservation only. Book ahead by telephone to the estate you want: Château de Selle +33 (0)4 94 47 57 57, Clos Mireille +33 (0)4 94 01 53 50, Château Romassan +33 (0)4 94 98 71 91. There is no online booking calendar, and the house does not publish tour prices.

The three estates sit in different parts of the Var, and each needs its own drive. Château de Selle is at 5093 route de Flayosc, 83460 Taradeau, inland near Draguignan and close to the Abbaye du Thoronet. Clos Mireille is on the route du Fort-de-Brégançon at 83250 La Londe les Maures, on the coast. Château Romassan is at 601 route des Mourvèdres, 83330 Le Castellet.

Domaines Ott is a Provençal wine producer built from three separate estates in the Var, not a single address. Château de Selle at Taradeau came first, acquired by Marcel Ott in 1912; Clos Mireille followed in 1936 and Château Romassan in 1956. Two appellations are involved: Château de Selle and Clos Mireille make Côtes de Provence, Château Romassan makes Bandol.

Marcel Ott was an agricultural engineer from Alsace. His search for vineyards took him as far as Algeria before his wife Elisabeth persuaded him to settle in Provence instead; the house dates that search to 1896. He bought Château de Selle in 1912 after years learning the region. In 1933, once Prohibition ended, the first Château de Selle red and rosé shipped to the United States.

Three estates, three different grounds. Château de Selle farms 93 hectares inland at Taradeau on gypsum, red clay, gravel and stones. Clos Mireille runs 53 hectares down towards the Mediterranean on clay-schist with no limestone in it, inside 174 hectares classified as a nature reserve. Château Romassan's 83 hectares spread across the eight communes of Bandol on limestone, sandstone and marl.

Two numbers the house publishes about its own labour: 600 hours of work per hectare of vines each year, against a stated Provence average of 200 to 300, and 47 separate occasions on which each individual vine is checked or worked. About 40 people tend the vineyards daily. And Clos Mireille made nothing but white wine until 2004.