On a gloomy afternoon in March of last year, I stood on the Pont du Gard being pelted by cold rain. Moments earlier, a strong gust of the mistral had swept down the Gardon River, snapping in half the €10 umbrella I’d bought from an Avignon Monoprix that morning. My clothes were soaked. I was still working off my jet lag. And my eighteen-month-old son, struggling even more with the time adjustment, had spent much of the previous night unable to sleep. But, in spite of all this, my family and I were in heaven.
     Two hours earlier, we had found the most delicious and soul-warming refuge inside La Courtille, an oasis of French dining in the sleepy commune of Tavel. Housed in an old, white stone building once dedicated to silkworm production, La Courtille is run by one of France’s pioneering winemaking families, the Pfifferlings of L’Anglore. The restaurant has become so beloved among KLWM staff in the last year that many of us have spent parts of our vacations making the pilgrimage to this obscure corner of southern France to feast on Paris-trained chef Natalia Crozon’s pork belly, braised vegetables, sweetbreads, pâtés, and more while enjoying the village’s iconic dark rosés—or light reds, depending on whom you ask.
     La Courtille, though, is only one of the many unexpected and enchanting surprises this little region, known as the Gard, has to offer. On the rainy, twenty-minute drive from La Courtille to the Pont du Gard, for instance, I couldn’t help but marvel at the rows and rows of old, gnarled, and majestic vines of Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre, among others. In most regions, old vines tend to be rarer and reserved for the most prestigious cuvées, but here in the Gard, they run across the land in every direction, yielding not only gorgeous Tavels, like the ones we’d enjoyed at La Courtille, but also humbler regional bottlings like our Côtes du Rhône Villages from Les Vignerons d’Estézargues, one of France’s most avant-garde caves coopératives.
     The Gard is one of the country’s regions that feels under-visited, despite so many cultural, culinary, and vinous gems. If ever you find yourself planning a trip to the south of France, I cannot recommend this sliver of the south highly enough. Here are some ideas to get the juices flowing.

Day 1 • On a Wednesday or Saturday morning, your first destination should be Uzès, a medieval town home to one of the most beautiful markets in France. After an hour or two exploring the stalls, start to make your way east, stopping first at the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aqueduct that used to supply Nîmes with water. From there, you’ll only need to drive ten minutes for lunch in the tiny Saint-Hilaire-d’Ozilhan. This is an otherwise sleepy town—where our excellent mustards happen to come from—but on a nice day, restaurant Le Flores is the perfect place to enjoy lunch outside. When, at last, the moment comes for dinner, La Courtille in the wine village of Tavel beckons you to enjoy one of your most memorable meals of the year. If the restaurant’s old stone interior offers a cozy setting for a late-winter lunch, its gorgeous pea-gravel patio makes for an even dreamier place to enjoy dinner and several glasses of wine on a summer’s night.

Day 2 • Once the recipient of water from the Pont du Gard, and the birthplace of denim (“de Nîmes”), Nîmes is a beautiful walking city at the heart of which is a remarkably well preserved, first-century Roman amphitheater. Just down the street from the arena, meanwhile, is the Maison Carrée, an ancient Roman temple built slightly earlier, and named to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2023 thanks to its incredible preservation. For lunch, grab a bite at one of the countless stalls inside the nearby market Les Halles.
     After lunch, go for a stroll down the canal along the Quai de la Fontaine and through the Jardins de la Fontaine. At the top of the gardens, you get a beautiful view of the old city. When you’re ready for a bottle of the local wine, stop by Flacons a few blocks away and pick up a bottle from the brilliant Nîmes native Ludovic Engelvin. Start with his Clausus, an extraordinarily silky, smooth, and fruit-forward Grenache, or, if you’re feeling a little more adventurous, seek out his Blanc de Voile, a singular expression of Grenache Blanc inspired by the great oxidative wines of Andalusia. Finally, for dinner, check out the wine bar Le Cheval Blanc or, for a more elevated experience, get a reservation at Rouge or Skab, whose chef is also a Nîmes native and devotee to Gardois ingredients.