Mourvedre is the king of Bandol, where AOC rules require a minimum of 50 percent (most serious reds run 80 to 95 percent) and where the variety, late-ripening and demanding, finds the heat, sea breeze and limestone restanques it needs to ripen fully. Wines are dense, savoury and tannic young, evolving over 10 to 25 years into the leather, garrigue, dried fig and warm-spice register that defines Bandol red. The grape also gives Bandol rose its savoury, age-worthy character (3 to 8 years is normal for the rose) and contributes structure to the rose blends of Cotes de Provence and Coteaux d'Aix. The variety is the same as Spain's Monastrell and California / Australia's Mataro. Outside Bandol, Mourvedre is also a key component of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and is grown across the southern Rhone.
Grenache is the structural backbone of Provence rose and the most-planted red grape across the regional AOCs. The variety gives the rose blends their soft red-fruit core (strawberry, raspberry, white pepper) and the body that lets Provence roses pair with food rather than serve as aperitif-only wines. In Bandol it is a permitted supporting variety (up to 50 percent in reds, more in rose); in Les Baux-de-Provence and Coteaux d'Aix it is one of the dominant red grapes alongside Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. Grenache here is the same variety as Spain's Garnacha and the bedrock of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Cinsault is the lift in Provence rose: a thin-skinned variety that gives the blend its pale colour, delicate aromatic profile (rose petal, peach skin, watermelon) and its accessible, food-friendly drinking style.
Syrah arrived in Provence from the northern Rhone in the late 20th century and is now used across the regional AOCs for its colour, structure and ageing potential.
Tibouren is the heritage grape of Provence: a near-extinct red variety that is now grown almost exclusively in the Cotes de Provence around the Massif des Maures.
Rolle is the Provencal name for Vermentino, the same grape that anchors the whites of Sardinia (Vermentino di Gallura DOCG) and Liguria. It is by far the dominant white-wine grape across the Provence regional AOCs and gives the white wines their citrus-and-fennel profile, mid-weight body and pleasing bitter almond finish. In Bellet, Rolle is one of the three local grapes (alongside the red Braquet and Folle Noire); on the coast in Cotes de Provence La Londe it is often blended with Semillon and Ugni Blanc for richer styles. The variety is also a small but meaningful component of many top Provence rose blends, co-fermented with reds for additional aromatic lift.
Clairette is the foundational white grape of Cassis, where the appellation's chalky-marl soils and the cooling effect of the Cap Canaille cliffs deliver a textbook chalk-and-fennel profile with citrus-peel lift and saline finish. The variety has been grown on the Mediterranean coast since at least the medieval era and is also a key supporting blender in Bandol whites (with Bourboulenc and Ugni Blanc), Palette and Les Baux. Clairette is naturally low in acidity, so it is typically picked early; many Cassis producers age it briefly on lees in old oak or stainless to add mid-palate weight without aromatic interference.
Ugni Blanc (the same variety as Italy's Trebbiano Toscano) is one of the most-planted white grapes in France and a workhorse in Provence whites and roses.
Braquet is one of the three heritage Bellet grapes (alongside Folle Noire and Rolle) and is now grown almost exclusively in the Nice city AOC of Bellet.
Folle Noire (locally Fuella Nera) is the principal red grape of Bellet, the urban AOC inside Nice. The variety is genetically distinct from the Folle Noire of south-west France (an Armagnac base grape) and is found almost nowhere else in the world; plantings are confined to a handful of producers across Bellet's 50 hectares. Wines are mid-weight and aromatic with notes of garrigue, sour cherry and white pepper, often blended with Braquet and small amounts of Grenache. Folle Noire is the Riviera identity grape: without it the Bellet AOC would be a generic southern French red.