In the Upper Jurassic, a deep sea - the Vocontian fossa - covered the area of the Dentelles de Montmirail massif. The uplift of the massif at the origin of the eminences of Gigondas, Roque-Alric, and Barroux happened at the beginning of the tertiary during the Pyrenean-Provençal folding. The Miocene started a sedimentation phase later fractured by the Nîmes fault that formed the Prealps during gigantic thrusts. The limestone slabs of the Dentelles rose vertically following this general uplift according to a geological phenomenon called diapir and comparable to cold volcanism.