Bandol

Bandol is a small town on the Var coast west of Toulon, founded in 1595 around a small military fort. It gives its name to one of Provence’s most internationally recognised wine regions, an AOC since 1941, which covers 8 communes of silica and limestone soils east of Marseille and Cassis. Those soils and the warm coastal climate suit the late-ripening Mourvèdre, which must be at least 50% of the red. Provence has made wine for at least 2,600 years, since the Greeks founded Marseille, and today it is known above all for rosé, which is more than half of its production. Bouillabaisse is the dish to go with it.