Vendanges provenceSeptember is vendange time in the South of France. It certainly is a good time to visit Provence vineyards and why not try grape picking for a day or more if you do not fear backbreaking. Still, it is not easy to know until about a week before what grapes will start being picked and when exactly, so lodging may be tricky, especially since accommodations in the South of France that used to be provided for grape pickers as part of the deal has become the exception. We do have a selection of vacation rental apartments and villas in the South of France still available for the vendange season.

If you would like to go picking but do not want to bend so much and prefer shade, then try olive picking, it is the right time for that, too!

Or else, if you just want to enjoy vendange traditional festivities without breaking your back and staining your fingers, then you may prefer les fêtes de la vendange.

Here are just a few examples of a number of cities and villages where you can enjoy “vendange” celebrations:

  • Tarascon for its wine fair and vendange festival (October 7 and 8 )
  • Avignon for its Côtes du Rhône festival (mid October + 3rd Thursday of November)
  • Oppède, Luberon (3rd weekend of October)
  • La Tour d’Aigues, Luberon, for “la Gouleyade” (November 11)