This Rosé Winery–hopping Girls' Trip Takes You to the Dreamiest Spots Along the French Riviera

Grab your besties and your passports: Here's how to spend three rosé days with the girls on the French Riviera.

I’ve been a devoted Francophile since I conjugated my first verb in high school and have been traveling to l’Hexagone ever since. But it’s my last 20 summers spent in a sunny village on the Cote d’Azur that have solidified an appreciation for rosé-all-day fun with friends. Oui, traffic has worsened over the decades, and the cost of the almond croissants at my favorite boulangerie has gone up, but one thing has remained a constant — when the mercury rises on this fabled stretch of Mediterranean coastline, the region’s favorite summertime elixir, rosé, flows more freely with good friends at your side.

With neighboring Provence AOCs supplying around five percent of the world’s rosé wine from villages where grapevines seem to outnumber residents, there is plenty of "pink drink" (and Instagrammable scenery) to go around.

So, grab your besties and your passports. Here's how to spend three rosé days with the girls on the French Riviera.

Day 1: Nice

You’ve landed at Nice Cote d’Azur Airport and freshened up at the hotel — time to head straight to the vines, which aren’t as far as you think. One of France’s oldest and smallest AOCs, Bellet, covers around 1,600 acres with only about 125 planted with vines at 300 to 1,000 feet above sea level. Hemmed into the hills surrounding the city, a handful of family-run wineries are just the place to dip your pedicured toes into rosé tasting. Bellet’s oldest winery, Château de Bellet, is an excellent place to start, and the tasting room is inside a 19th-century chapel. Grab a tax or rideshare from the hotel, or let an expert do the planning (and driving) and book a three-hour Bellet winery tour with  French Riviera Wine Tours whose guide will pick you up and drop you off in Nice.

If your jet lag prefers to be salved on a sunny beach, beeline it to Castel Plage on Nice’s famous Baie des Anges, where you can reserve a lounge chair for the day, feast on fresh fish and oysters, and choose from a menu of more than a dozen Cote de Provence rosés that will chill within reach.

End the evening at one of Nice’s many wine bars, such as one-year-young La Treille, tucked onto Rue Saint-Augustin in Nice’s buzzing old town. Or dress up and head to Seen, located on the 6th floor of the city’s newest luxury hotel, Anatara.

Day 2: Château de St Martin

1.25 hours from Nice

Road trip west on the easy-to-navigate A8 motorway (FYI: it’s a toll road, and credit cards are accepted) to Château de St. Martin, a family-run winery since 1740. With wine production that is more than 50 percent rosé, you’ve come to the right place. Belly up to the barrel tables or L-shaped wooden bar where the English-speaking staff happily pour cru classé rosé. Plan to stay the night at the winery’s homey 18th-century bastide turned five-room B&B, with rooms trimmed in antique furniture and floral wall covering. Guest can lounge by the pool during the hot Provençal summers with a bottle of chilled and easy-drinking Grand Reserve rosé. Or,  if sightseeing versus sunbathing is more your style, the 12th-century L’Abbaye du Thoronet is a picturesque diversion, just a half-hour from the winery.

If you arrive early on a  Tuesday morning, the Provencal village of Lorgues holds one of the best and largest farmers markets in the area. Be sure to book a table and splurge on dinner at Bruno, aka Chez Bruno, known for its truffle-centric menus, and just 10 minutes from the bastide.

In the morning, your hosts will invite you to tuck into the fresh bread and jam, buttery croissants, and coffee inside the family dining room.

Day 3: Chateau de Valmer

2.5 hours from Nice

Today’s drive will get a little twisty and take more than an hour, so stretch your legs about halfway in the hilltop village of Grimaud where flower-box-filled streets and medieval castle remnants are Instagram-worthy. Once at Chateau de Valmer, it’s all about the wine and sea. Not only does the 42-room hotel have its own sandy beach a  quarter-mile stroll away, but it’s also minutes from some of the region’s best-known names in rosé such as  Chateau Minuty (no appointment necessary) or Domaine de la Croix, the largest of the Cotes de Provence wineries. The idyllic Saint-Tropez peninsula can be toured on your own, or put the fun in funky with a vineyard tour in vintage Citroen 2CV cars. Prefer something mellower? How about a between-the-vines yoga session with your besties?

An elegant-but-easy lunch with the gal pals doesn’t get better than a table on the oak-tree-shaded terrace of La Verdoyante, a place I’ve been coming to since 2006. You’ll be warmly welcomed by the same husband-and-wife team and served thoughtfully prepared Provencal meals and local rosé in a setting surrounded by cru classé vines.

Cap off your getaway with a road trip (just six miles) into the sherbet-hued village of Saint-Tropez, where you and the girls can shop the large market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, pick up matching pairs of Tropezienne sandals, fitted to your feet while you wait, and sip rosé at Sénéquier on the yacht-encrusted port, an enviable people-watching perch since 1930.

Kimberley Lovato is a freelance journalist and Francophile who writes from California and Sainte-Maxime, France.

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