History
The wine of Tavel is historically famous. Philip IV is supposed to have travelled through Tavel on one of his tours of the kingdom. He was reportedly offered a glass, which he emptied without getting off his horse and afterwards proclaimed Tavel the only good wine in the world. The Sun King, Louis XIV is also supposed to have been fond of the wine, which helped maintain its reputation until the vineyards were affected by the phylloxera epidemic. Tavel achieved AOC status in 1936 when the system was introduced. At that point the grapes were mostly grown on the sandy flat lands closer to town, where vines were easier to cultivate but produced a lower quality of wine. In 1965 the hillsides were cleared of forest and prepared for growing vines.
Read more about this topic: Tavel AOC
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