Vineyards inside a city
Bellet is among the few appellations lying within a major city's limits.
A wine estate in the Bellet hills north-west of Nice, within one of the smallest classified wine areas in France and one of the strangest in its position: vineyards inside the boundaries of a major city. Bellet is an exception worth explaining. It was granted its appellation in 1941, and its area does not exceed a few dozen hectares — meaning its entire annual output is less than a single mid-sized Bordeaux estate produces. Its grapes are local and rare: Folle Noire and Braquet for red and rosé, Rolle for white. The reason for its rarity is also the reason for its value. Nice's urban expansion swallowed most of the vineyards during the twentieth century, and what remains survives because the owners refused to sell. Land here is worth more as building plots than as vines. The setting itself is beautiful: terraces on slopes above the Var valley, at an altitude that gives cool nights and keeps acidity in the grapes despite the nearness of the sea. Decisive practical points: visits and tastings are by prior booking only and callers without an appointment are not received. Access is realistically by car; the roads are narrow and winding. Tasting means not driving — arrange a driver.
Bellet is among the few appellations lying within a major city's limits.
Folle Noire, Braquet and Rolle are all but confined to here.
The land is worth more as building plots than as vines.
The Bellet district, the hills of Nice
The visit itself covers the vineyard and the production and can be done without tasting — tell them when booking. But be realistic: this is a wine estate and tasting is the point of visiting it, and a non-drinker will find the tour short. If your interest is the scenery and the hills, the Var valley and villages like Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze are far more rewarding.
The perched villages above the coast: Èze with its cactus garden and its view, Saint-Paul-de-Vence with its art galleries, and Villefranche-sur-Mer with its small handsome harbour. All are closer, easier to reach than the Bellet vineyards, and need no booking.
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