Stopping off for a meal at Domaine de la Bégude turns out to be a delightful moment. In 1996, Guillaume and Soledad Tari fell in love with this vast place miles from anywhere in the AOC Bandol area, 400m up between Le Castellet and La Cadière-d’Azur. What a location! "South-facing, on steep ground, looking out to sea with a breathtaking panorama of La Ciotat bay – it had everything we were looking for. But we had to start from scratch, restoring the buildings and facing a fresh challenge each year as we planted, expanded and diversified." They now welcome guests to a 500ha estate, with 17ha of vines on 20 scattered plots and 10ha of olive trees producing olive oil for a lucky few customers. La Bégude recently started a luxury bed and breakfast service for wine lovers, with four guestrooms. "We organise wine tasting picnics out among the vines for those who want a tour of the vineyard, and also guided tours based on our four great Bandol appellation wines: Bandol By Begude 2012, Domaine de La Bégude 2012, La Bégude red 2009 and La Brûlade 2010. Now we've added the Irréductible 2013 (Vin de France). We like to take time, it's in our nature. But we are still planting, and increasing our organic output. A real pleasure."
Route des Garrigues, 83330 La-Camp-du-Castellet – Tél. 04 42 08 92 34
By Louis Badie
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