Cairanne (in the southern Rhône valley) is celebrating its wines this year along with culinary highlights from the Hautes-Alpes region.

There’ll be cheese producers (Les Alpages de Fontantié), jam (Bernard Meysonnier), mead (Pierre Noé’s organic hives), biscuits (Les Ruchers du Forest), gin (Favier Distillery) and toys (Alpin on home turf).

Live performances, orchestras (in particular Les Tire-Bouchons – the Corkscrews – from Bézier), Provencal market and winegrowers’ stalls.

Essential gift: a breathalyzer test comes free with your tasting glass (3 €uros).

The Hautes Vignes cellars: ‘La Valserroise’

Established in 1950, it’s now the last cooperative cellar in the region.

The cellar’s at an altitude of 700 m and the vines between 600 and 700 m, mostly extending across the Avance and Durance valleys.

Numbers: 135 coop growers, 100 hectares of vines, 3500 hl.

Domaine de Tresbaudon

Olivier Ricard reintroduced grape growing to Tallard.

Domaine de Tresbaudon is split into two parts:
Tresbaudon southwest of Tallard on the mountain’s southern foothills. Parallel to the Durance riverbed, it goes right up to 600 metres. The way it’s planted gives the site a beneficial microclimate for reliable vine growth. 10 hectares of vines are planted in rich silty soils.
Segrie is planted to the north of Tallard at 650 metres altitude. Facing south sheltered from prevailing winds, as well as chalky soil, makes this the ideal spot to grow vines. So far 2 hectares are planted.

The local grapes from old vines are: Mollard, Cinsault, Espanenc and Ugni Blanc.
For at least the past 15 years, they’ve diversified into new varieties such as Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
Production is labelled under the Vin de Pays des Hautes-Alpes wine area.

Contact details for the 32nd ‘fête du vin de Cairanne’ (wine festival) in the events section.

Make a mental note of Michel Blanc’s pretty poster (below).