History of Provence could be told through the history of its wines. Provence has the most ancient vineyards of France. 2600 years ago, the Greeks from Phocée, founders of the Greek colony of Marseille, introduced the grape plants and the techniques of wine making. It is only later that vineyards were widely developed by the Romans. In the middle ages, monastic communities continued this activity, taking important incomes from their vineyards: Saint Victor abbey in Marseille, Silvacane abbey in the Luberon, the Lérin abbey near Cannes…

During the 14th century, noble families built and ran huge and imposing residences in the middle of the vineyards. Despite the political events of the 18th century, viticulture stayed prosperous in the region up to the 19th century when the phylloxera insect destroyed a big part of the local plantation. The reconstruction was very difficult and in the 20th century, overproduction harmed the quality and the commercialising of the wines.

In 1907, the decision was taken to control more seriously the way of producing wine. And from the 30ies quality was the main ambition. Great attention was given to the culture itself, good fruits produce a good wine, strict selection of the grape, small productivity and the "savoir-faire" of the art of wine-making using traditional methods. These great efforts have been successful and nowadays the bad reputation has turned into a very good one.

History of the grape in Provence can be explained by the extraordinarily favourable growing conditions: a poor earth, enough sunshine the whole year round, perfect ventilation with the wind called "mistral" and a good rainfall.