Palette is a very small appellation of the Provence wine region in far south-eastern France. Created in 1948, the title covers the red, white and rose wines made near Aix-en-Provence, a town just north of Marseille. Production here is dominated by a single producer, Chateau Simone, which owns roughly half of the vineyards covered by the appellation. Most of the remaining output comes from Chateau Cremade, Chateau Henri Bonnaud, Chateau de Meyreuil and La Badiane.
The Palette title applies specifically to a small area in the hills east of Aix, in the communes of Meyreuil, Le Tholonet and Aix-en-Provence itself. In the past, the appellation's surface area was around 57 acres (23ha), but in 2005, the INAO (the French government body in charge of the country's appellation system) put the total at 106 acres (43ha). This increase reflected the significant modernization and expansion of the wine industry across the south of France since the 1990s.
Because of the local soils, Palette's wines stand out from those of the much-larger appellations (Cotes de Provence and Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence) that effectively surround it. Limestone dominates Palette's hillsides, as demonstrated by the gleaming white slopes of the nearby Montagne Sainte-Victoire, an 11-mile (18-km) ridge of limestone that gives its name to the sub-appellation of Sainte-Victoire.
The list of grape varieties permitted under the Palette appellation is one of the most extensive of any title. No fewer than 16 are allowed in the white wines and 15 in the reds – a figure that easily rivals the famously diverse encepagement of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 50 miles (80km) to the north-west of Aix. As in Chateauneuf, however, the red and rose wines show a clear bias towards the key southern French red varieties Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsaut. The white wines are required by law to contain at least 55% Clairette (in its various local forms), accompanied by Bourboulenc, Picardin and others in lesser proportions. Terret Gris is the only variety permitted in all three colors of Palette wine, but is limited to a maximum of 20% in the whites.
