📜 Côtes de Provence

Côtes de Provence is a French PDO (protected designation of origin) for still rosé, red and white wines. The geographical area covers 84 municipalities: 68 in the department of Var, 15 in Bouches-du-Rhône and one in Alpes-Maritimes.

All three wine types have a minimum natural alcoholic strength of 11 % vol. Rosé and white wines have no more than 4 g/l of fermentable sugar after fermentation. For red wines the limit is 3 g/l up to 14 % natural strength and 4 g/l above it, and malic acid at packaging is at most 0.4 g/l. The maximum yield is 66 hectolitres per hectare.

The single document lists the permitted varieties, including Grenache, Syrah, Cinsaut, Mourvèdre, Tibouren, Carignan, Clairette, Vermentino and Semillon. In 2024 Floreal, Souvignier Gris and Sauvignac were added; they may account for up to 5 % of the vine varieties and 10 % of blends, and their names may not appear on labels.

Each vine has no more than 2.50 square metres of space, rows are at most 2.50 m apart, and plants in a row are at least 0.80 m apart. Spur pruning with at most six spurs per plant is the rule, and Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah may be cane pruned with single Guyot. Irrigation is permitted. For rosé, oenological charcoal is allowed within 20 % of a winemaker's rosé volume, and heat treatment of the harvest above 40 °C is prohibited.

Labels may add the supplementary geographical designations Fréjus, Sainte-Victoire, Pierrefeu and Notre-Dame des Anges for red and rosé wines.