In France every region has their own wine cooperative, called cave (pronounced with a soft a, like ‘ahhh’). In Provence, you can find caves in almost every village, large or small. As you explore the villages of the South of France, we recommend stopping in for a browse and tasting wherever you can. When you buy from the local wine cave, you are truly getting a taste of the terrrior of the region. Buy local, taste local! And the adage – what grows together, goes together could not be more true. Wine from the village, cheese from the village, bread from the village bakery – could there be a more wonderfully local, Provencal experience than that? Wine cooperatives started in the late 1800s, mostly out of economic necessity, and continue to flourish today. A wine cooperative essentially consists of a building with winemaking facilities and a wine shop. During the harvest...