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The chateau’s Côtes-de-Provence wines have improved tremendously in recent times. Its Cuvée Prieuré has the class to age for 15 years or more, which makes it more than worthy of its historic surroundings. The superb chateau and grounds host summer concerts.

British-owned Berne is the region’s best wine visitors’ centre. The site is picturesque, the welcome friendly and professional and there’s a full calendar of cultural events. There’s also a first-class hotel-restaurant on-site, L’Auberge. The best wine is the Cuvée Spéciale.

If the stunning underground winery resembles a cathedral, it’s not coincidental. The site has had spiritual associations since the Greeks worshipped here in the 4th century BC. The owners aim to harmonize with this past, even programming cultivation by the phases of the moon. The wines, however, are anything but eccentric.

In a wooded residential suburb, this Swedish-run domain has a fanatical and innovative attitude to wine quality. The Cuvée Clos d’Ière is among the most expressive of Provençal wines. The welcome at the cellar is both easy and relaxed.

Home of Henri Bardouin, the connoisseur’s pastis . Like all pastis , Bardouin is based on star anise but here they add 50 other herbs and spices, many from the surrounding hillsides. The result is an apéritif more richly flavoured than better-known brands.

Yves Rousset-Rouard was a film producer and a politician before plunging his fortune into this stylish set-up. The Côtes-deLuberon wines are treated with respect and the on-site Corkscrew Museum is unique.

The Coulon family have been established in Provence’s most famous wine village since 1695 – time enough to perfect their skills. The Boisrenard red is the proof. They also run the Musée du Vigneron, the region’s best wine museum.

In a superb location, set back from the sea and next to a bird sanctuary, Alain Combard and his family make wines of great finesse. The visitors’ entrance to the cellar is, oddly, round the back of a steel tank.

The quintessential Provence wine domain: the wines, especially the rosés, show true Provençal character. The visit also takes in a museum dedicated to the region’s traditional santon figurines (see Santon Figures).

Perched directly above the sea, this may be the most attractively sited wine chateau in Provence. Owner Henri de Saint-Victor has wrestled the unyielding land to produce red wines in the forefront of the Bandol appellation.