A sleepy little village in Sète’s backcountry, opening hours built around apéro time, local living wines: when Julia Tovedal (formerly a sommelier in Sweden) and local lad Mathieu Turries promised the easy life, they were bang on the money. On the ground floor of a grand old house overlooking a plane-tree-lined square, the duo line up bottles they’re properly smitten with, many of them sporting a southern accent (though they’re not above sniffing out wines from elsewhere in France or even Eastern Europe), popping corks at an appropriately unhurried pace as the day winds down. With a corkage fee that’s equally laid-back (€5) and grazeables to match (tielles savory pies from Dassé in Sète, oysters from Loupian), it’s hard not to go with the flow, whether you’re perched on the bench out front or keeping cool in the wine cellar. Cheers – but easy does it, eh! · Max Suarez

Drank: Wu, a direct-press white cinsault from Domaine Mada (€22 a bottle), which pipped Argile, a petit manseng from Château Lafitte (€39), by a whisker.