Provence to construct €5.5m centre for rosé research

A new research centre is being planned for Provence that will see €5.5 million invested in a place dedicated to rosé, featuring an experimental winery and vineyard. Called Centre du Rosé, it will replace an existing building and research centre by the same name, that was built in 1999 to focus on ways to improve pink wine production. Speaking to db about the project, Vins de Provence MD Brice Eymard said that the current rosé research centre was now 25 years old and needed replacing if it was to expand its remit. The new Centre du Rosé will be just 500 metres away from the current one, which is located in the small town of Vidauban. Eymard told db last month that the current building has been sold to the town, which may turn it into a tourism office, while as much as €5.5 million has been earmarked to develop a new structure which will overlook a lake in the Argens Valley on the outskirts of Vidauban. Currently at an early stage, Eymard said that Vins de Provence along with other partners in the project were currently waiting for a permit to construct the new centre, which they hope to receive in June. After that, they plan to invite designs from a range of architects, before selecting a winning proposal. As for the funding for the new Centre du Rosé, Eymard said that there were three sources, the largest being the region’s agricultural chamber of commerce, called the Chambre d'agriculture du Var, followed by the French Wine and Vine Institute (IFV), and then The Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Provence (CIVP), of which he is head. Other winemakers in the region, such as Maison Mirabeau’s Guillaume Cordonis, praised the proposed investment, describing it as a statement of serious ambition for the region, when db met with him in March. Eymard is also excited by the plans, telling db that a new experimental winery will be “very helpful”, with the existing one being “too small and old”, while the proposed site will also have space for an experimental vineyard – something Vins de Provence currently has, but in a different place almost 40km away in Brignoles, where 120 different varieties are planted. The focus of research at the new Centre du Rosé will be on helping the region adapted to changes in climate as well as finding new ways to create wine more sustainably, as well as improve quality. “For example, we will be looking at ways to make rosé using less energy and less water,” he said. He added, “It will be a leadership tool for us, with a focus on R&D, so we can provide good answers to all the questions from winemakers.” Construction, he hopes, will be finished “in time to receive the harvest of 2027”. The new centre is not open to the public, however, and when db asked Eymard whether Vins de Provence might consider building an educational facility for the some 30 million tourists who visit the region each year, he said that it was not on the plans at present. “We are not planning a Cité du Vin like Bordeaux at the moment, although we have discussed it many times,” he said, before pointing out that even if it was to go ahead, it would be hard to decide where to site it. “Unlike Bordeaux, there is no one specific town for Provence – for example, it [a rosé centre for the public] could be in Toulon or Nice, Marseille or Aix,” he said. Nevertheless, as previously reported by db, Vins de Provence is working on improving the connection between wine-related activities in the region and the huge number of visitors that descend on the area each year by building a website and app.