WINE-DOWN WEDNESDAY

Each summer certain places draw epicureans and hedonists like a magnet. Crystalline waters, blue skies and beaming sunshine are all very well but as the beautiful people recline upon their beach beds, dance under the stars and dine under glorious sunsets, what I want to know is: what are they drinking?

St Tropez held a bohemian allure in the 1950s when renowned Parisian writers, painters and actors made the French Riviera their summer escape. By the 1960s the “jet set” were flying in for the beaches and bars and now the port gleams white with the super yachts of the ultra-wealthy.

An ideal spot to watch these ships come in is the Hotel Bar Sube, where people jostle for the balcony views and where I sipped the Provence rosé

Chateau Minuty with owner Francois Matton. The heat was stifling but, knowing how many winemakers feel about ice diluting their wines, I was surprised to see Matton scooping cubes into his pale pink wine.

“Of course!” Matton scoffed, embodying the relaxed indulgence of the town, “it’s an easy wine, a pleasure wine. If it gets warm it ceases to be a pleasure and you feel the alcohol”. With the vineyards of Provence just inland, a light, fruity, visually pleasing rosé is clearly the winner for the glamourous St Tropez set.

The volcanic Greek island of Santorini is famed for its white-washed buildings clinging to rocks above the deep blue sea, its striking black sand beaches and its phenomenal sunsets. A place of mythology and beauty, it’s also one of the oldest wine regions in the

Wine without the snobbery, by

Libby Brodie