Le Petit Frenchy is a delicious, IGP Méditerranée rosé, grown within the Côtes de Provence area. It’s the brainchild of Victor Bardou, a Provence native with over 20 years’ experience sourcing, exporting, managing and marketing Côtes de Provence Rosé, produced independently via some of his contacts built up through his years in the industry. The fruit is sourced from varied vineyards around the village of Vidauban in the Haut Var, some of the oldest winegrowing terroir of France. The landscape is of parasol pine trees, broom and pink sandstone in the south and picturesque cliffs in the gorges of the River Argens to the north. Warm days bring vibrant summer flavour, and cool evenings ensure a slow and optimal ripening.  

Although this is grown completely in the Côtes de Provence area, Bardou elected to produce an IGP Méditerranée wine to reflect his love of an easy-drinking rosé that he could price for more casual occasions. It shares the pale pink salmon colour of AOC Côtes de Provence wines, as well as lively yellow fruit, berry and floral notes layered with citrus peel before a refreshing dry finish. But, it has a sweeter price point than other rosé wines produced in the same subregion.

The IGP Méditérranée covers wines that are produced in a large area on the southeast coast of France, roughly corresponding to the Provence wine region but also including a part of the Rhône Valley and two departments on the island of Corsica. The designation shares its land with multiple AOC appellations as varied as Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Bandol and Côtes de Provence. Vidauban is in the Haut Var, just to the north-west of Saint-Tropez. One of the most respected rosé-producing subregions of Provence, it’s home to the Centre de Rosé, an entity dedicated to strengthening the status of rosé wine by demonstrating its link with terroir, clarifying the making process and validating its analytical identity.

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