Spanning nearly two centuries, the Dutheil de la Rochere family’s stewardship of Chateau Sainte Anne traces the modern evolution of viticulture in Provence. In the 1940s, the family was active in efforts to establish the Bandol AOC, part of a broader political effort to convert the generally high-yielding and disorganized vineyards of the South into codified and protected terroirs. The strategy succeeded in reducing overall yields, keeping prices high relative to village wines and insulating Bandol growers from rising inter-European competition. But by the 1970s the growing popularity of agro-chemicals presented itself as a new problem for the family. Parting ways with the majority of other growers in the appellation and region, Francois Dutheil (father to current proprietor Jean-Baptiste) rejected the use of fertilizers and pesticides, just as his father had, believing that micro-biological diversity in the soils was a precursor for good wine. He joined other household names of the time such as Gramenon and Overnoy to champion the budding natural wine movement. From the 1990s onward, Jean-Baptiste has been tasked with steering the domaine through the vexing currents of an “americanized” international wine market (which has claimed no small share of victims in Bandol) while doing justice to his father’s legacy. In this respect, he has thrown in his lot decidedly with the traditionalists, continuing to turn out extraordinarily cellar-worthy mourvedre at 12.5% alcohol, fermented native, aged in very old foudres in the domaine’s 400 year-old cellar and cautiously sulfured only at bottling.