More about Domaines Ott

Domaines Ott did as much as anyone to turn Provence rosé from a holiday souvenir into a serious wine, and its curvy, amphora-inspired bottle, a family design, is still one of the most recognizable shapes on any wine list.

Marcel Ott, an agricultural engineer from Alsace, came south to Provence around the turn of the 20th century, when phylloxera had made vineyard land cheap, and bought Château de Selle, in the hills at Taradeau, in 1912. In the 1930s he added Clos Mireille, on the coast at La Londe-les-Maures near the Fort de Brégançon, and in 1956 Château Romassan in Bandol. The Champagne house Louis Roederer bought the business in 2004, and members of the Ott family have stayed at the helm.

Each estate has its own character. Château de Selle sits inland on clay and limestone; Clos Mireille's vines grow on schist within reach of the sea spray, and for decades it made only white wine; at Romassan, Bandol's Mourvèdre gives the rosé more weight and spice. The grapes are hand-picked and gently pressed, and the estates are now certified organic. Expect pale, dry, structured rosés with the depth and length of a good white wine, made for the table as much as the terrace.