Rosé accounts for roughly nine in every ten bottles produced across the Côtes de Provence appellation — a share unmatched by any other major French wine region. That statistic is the end of a very long story. Greek settlers from Phocaea planted vines near Massalia around 600 BCE, making this the oldest wine region in France. Roman colonists extended the terraces inland, up the schist and limestone slopes that still define the terroir today. Monastic orders kept the vines alive through the medieval centuries. The appellation itself was formalised in 1977, late for such an ancient landscape, and the wines it governs are grown mainly from Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Tibouren and Rolle. A provence wine tour small group tour from nice moves through this layered inheritance in a single day, tracing routes that were carriage tracks before they were departmental roads. Geography does most of the work. The Massif des Maures shelters the vineyards from the north; the mistral dries the fruit and suppresses mildew, which is one reason organic conversion has spread so widely here. Estates sit between roughly 100 and 400 metres of elevation, and altitude buys acidity that the Mediterranean sun would otherwise burn away. Bandol, Cassis and Coteaux Varois each hold their own appellation status within the wider region, and the difference between a Bandol Mourvèdre and a coastal Cinsault is legible in a single glass. The estates themselves are working farms first. Many occupy bastides and châteaux built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, their courtyards shaded by plane trees, their cellars cut into rock for thermal stability. Olive groves share the same slopes; the two crops have been companion plantings since antiquity, which is why olive oil tastings sit naturally alongside wine on several itineraries. Hilltop villages — Tourrettes-sur-Loup, Gassin, Le Castellet — punctuate the drive, their ramparts built for defence and now valued chiefly for the view. Access to vineyard estates is generally free, at 0 EUR, with tasting fees varying by property. Doors open at 09:00 on weekdays and 10:00 at weekends, closing at 18:00 throughout. Provence wine tour small group tour from nice tours condense that geography into eight or nine hours, and the five full-day options listed on this page — from the Côtes de Provence discovery route to a classic Land Rover ascent into the Riviera hills — each choose a different slice of it.