Dom Robert Winery (Cave à Vin)

The only winery in French Polynesia and reputedly the only coral-atoll vineyard anywhere in the world. Dom Robert grows several varieties of wine grapes in the sandy coral soil of Rangiroa, using a training system designed to keep the vines off the ground in the humid tropical climate.

Visits are possible with advance arrangement; ask your pension to help make contact. Tours take in the vineyard rows and end with a tasting. The wine is expensive by any standard but the curiosity value alone justifies a glass. A small shop sells bottles to take away — they travel surprisingly well.

things to do sight
A story
The vines grow in coral gravel a few metres above sea level and a few kilometres from open ocean — not exactly classic terroir. The winemaker started with the assumption that it couldn't be done, and spent years proving himself wrong. The wine is said to taste of the place: mineral, saline, unlike anything from a continental vineyard.