Real Estate Cannes

Wine: Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence and La Palette
This relatively recent AOC district has begun to make a name for its red, rose and white wines. Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence originates in 50 communes in the highlands stretching from the Durance to Marignane, west to Salon-de-Provence and east to the flanks of Montagne Ste-Victoire, and consists of the region's traditional syrah, grenache, cinsault, mourvedre and carignan grapes, enhanced in the past 20 years with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon, a stock that has improved the wine's ageing ability. Coteaux d'Aix's sunny whites are made from sauvignon, grenache blanc and ugni - but never from Rene's sweet muscat grapes, although these now grow merrily in Roussillon.<br />
Many growers welcome visitors, such as Puyricard's Chateau du Seuil, a handsomely restored I3th-century bastide, where reds and whites are an excellent buy.<br />
Or head further north, 20km from Aix, to Le Puy Ste-Reparade and the lush estate of Chateau de Fonscolombe, on the banks of the Durance, where James de Roany produces classic, fragrant red, rose and white wines.<br />
Further afield, another estate that welcomes visitors also supplies some of France's best restaurants: Jean Bonnet's 120-hectare Chateau Calissanne, overlooking the Etang de Berre on the site of an ancient Celtic oppidum (on the Dio, dose to Lancon-Provence). On the south bank of the lagoon,one of the sunniest corners of France, Chateau St-Jean, at Port-de-Bouc near Fos-sur-Mer, produces prize-winning roses (dominated by Counoise, an old-fashioned stock, mixed with grenache and carignan) and reds full of old-fashioned finesse.<br />
La Palette is a venerable, microscopie AOC region on a north-facing limestone scree east of Aix, on the left bank of the Are; although fairly sheltered from the mistral, it has cooler summer and winter temperatures than its environs. La Palette's red, white and rose nectar has been served at the royal fetes of such diverse monarchs as King Rene and Edward VII, but only two estates stili produce this rare fine wine of the south, aged in small casks: the celebrated 150-year-old Chateau Simone, at Meyreuil, off the pretty where dark, violet-scented reds are kept for three years in caves carved out by i6th-century Carmelites; and Chateau Cremade, a 17th-century bastide in LeTholonet, which bottles magnificent, well-structured red wines and a fruity blanc de blancs.