South of France
Summary
This area comprises the Languedoc and Roussillon (administratively Occitanie), alongside Provence. France’s first vine plantings were here, as Romans first landed their ships here (125 BCE). Today, with over 240,000 ha of vines, these areas combined have more hectares under vine than the countries of Chile, Australia or South Africa. A common thread between these areas is the naturally low yields for AOC wines. This is due to high evapotranspiration in vines caused by constant winds (Tramontane, Mistral, and Marin), warm conditions and very low rainfall. This area has the lowest yields of any area of France.