Four choices. No shortcuts.

In 1996, organic farming was not a box to tick on a label. In the Coteaux Varois, no neighbour practised it, no supply chain supported it, no customer asked for it. Patricia Ortelli converted the estate that year — with no technical advice and no market waiting for it, betting that the vines would thrive without synthetic chemicals, and that the wine would show it.

Thirty years on, organic farming has become common in Provence. Our commitment has not changed: living soils, grassed rows, copper and sulphur only, and close observation of each plot rather than treatment by the calendar.

At 380 metres, you do not get the volumes of the plains. Yields are lower, ripening comes later, and spring frost is always a risk. An estate designed for profitability would never have settled here.

But altitude gives something else. Cool nights preserve aroma and acidity — the liveliness we look for in our whites and rosés. The Haut-Var limestone brings tension, and the surrounding garrigue lends its aromatic breath. These are wines that cannot be made anywhere else in Provence. Discover our vineyard →