Terriors we love:

Chateau Oupia   http://louisdressner.com/Iche/

Borie De Maurel  http://www.boriedemaurel.fr/

Coup Des Roses    http://www.coupe-roses.com/en/revue_parker.html

Chateau Des Hospitalers      http://www.chateaudeshospitaliers.fr/

below is an interactive map of Vineyards in the region

http://www.wineweb.com/scripts/searchWineMap.cfm/France/_/Languedoc/_/

By Michael Whitehead

http://www.intowine.com/rethinking-languedoc-roussillon-amazing-history-magic-value-southern-france

I’m walking through a valley filled with wild herbs—rosemary, thyme, lavender and artemisia. Off in the distance, I can see a hill-side vineyard bursting with grapes and an ancient stone house. Next to the house, I notice people congregated near an old barn. I walk closer. When I arrive, a glass of wine is placed in my hand. I inhale and the aroma of the valley fills my senses. Then, I smile and take a sip. Deep, dark fruit quickly coats my palate. I look to the madame pouring the wine. “Welcome to the Languedoc,” she says. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

This was a dream I had after drinking a bottle of Hegarty Chamans Cuvee Number Three, a Syrah-Carignan blend from Languedoc-Roussillon’s Minervois region. It made me wonder about my professional wine knowledge. I’d taught a handful of French wine classes, sold plenty of Banyuls and Rosé but had never tasted wine of this quality. All for only $15. I couldn’t figure out how they managed to bottle garrigue (or the wild herbs) and terrior of Minervois for such a low price.

I thought I knew the Languedoc-Rousillon, a place where oceanic clouds fill the sky and wild, rolling hills cover valleys full of dense aromatic scrub. It was the area where Van Gogh, Matisse and Cezanne came to paint masterpieces; a magical place so rich in wine history that nearly every civilization has written about it. I had read about the Languedoc-Roussillon’s geographic complexities, weathered vignerons, and relentless, sun-drenched terriors. But my knowledge was only a small part of this incredible region.

Stretching from the Rhone to Spain, the Languedoc-Roussillon is the world’s largest vineyard. The production, consisting mostly of indigineous grapes, surpasses that of Bordeaux and Australia. Until recently, man’s intervention—mass production, imported grapes, and politics—created a type of bulk wine that almost wiped out the vineyards. Somehow the region survived. Now, the Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the hottest up-and-coming regions in the world, respected for both quality and value.

How does an area go from making barely consumable bulk wine to artisan wine central? It’s a combination of honoring tradition and embracing the future. The Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the oldest wine making regions in the world; the local grapes go back thousands of years, and many are grown on old-vines tended to by veteran vignerons or growers. Unlike other French wine regions, which long ago matched grape varieties with terriors, the Languedoc-Roussillon vignerons, with the help of the French authorites, continue to search for grape-terrior relationships.

Two of my favorite Languedoc-Roussillon grapes are piquepoul and mauzac. The piquepoul is the lone grape of the increasingly popular Picpoul de Pinet region, which makes dry, fruity wines from the sandy soil near the Meditterean shoreline. These shellfish wines (think oysters and mussels) have a touch of Italian style, which makes sense since the Romans cultivated the grape 2000 years ago. Their strong acidity and intense citrus flavors are comparable to Loire Valley whites at half the price.

The mauzac grape of Limoux has been used to produce sparkling wines since 1531. In fact, Dom Perignon came to the ancient abbey at Saint-Hilaire in the 1600s to learn about sparkling wines. He likely took notes of the mauzac growing in the chalky, pebble-patched soil and the natural secondary fermintation that was producing carbonation. It would be impossible to say whether sparkling wines were invented here, but one thing is for sure: if you want a light, dry and inexpensive sparkling wine, a Limoux is something you should check out.

The Languedoc-Roussillon produces expressive wines with a magical background. Besides the indigenous grapes, Catalan and Rhone style wines flourish here as well. Many are already available in the United States and the new wines will surely follow. Until, then, treasure the wines you find and dream of the wines to come.

The region we were not at all familiar with the Wine and in fact had never tried any of it. We were told time and time again that it was a place for rough table wine UNTIL… we were given a bottle of Opius from Chateau Oupia by a lovely gentleman called Justin… We drank, we ooooed , we ahhed and we were hooked.

Languedoc does produce the bulk of all wines used for mixing and blending up in Bordeaux but it is also renowned for small particular blends in small Terrior’s which are not sold in the open market. When I asked the question “ if it is so good , why not sell it? “ I was told…. “ Madam , it is because it is so good that we want to drink it ourselves..”.. so we embarked on an endless search for little known wines in little known places where we could charm the owners into selling us their specials……

So for more information:

http://www.terroirlanguedoc.co.uk/terroir/wine-company.html

http://www.thewinedoctor.com/regionalguides/languedoc1.shtml

7 hr delay in Copenhagen airport, land in France and promptly get lost in Montpellier whilst looking for train station,  pick up Sam finally and shoot down to find Sean and Natalie waiting for 4 hrs and the first thing Lars does is forget the alarm and set off his new gadget to deter thieves!

In the ensuing Shit! Shit! Shit! I poured wine, Lena had a cigarette, Natalie said it smelled like incense in a church, the boys ran around like ants with bees on their backs  in and out of the smoke and the Neighbor said to the rest of the village : Don’t worry, its only Le Patrone, he’s back!”

We had arrived at Lou Castelet in Fabrezan for our annual summer holidays!

As the smoke filled the village, the security guy, myself and Lena could not stop laughing at the absurdity of the situation with a C’est la vie attitude you can only have in France and I knew we were off to a good start!!

With me, Lars, Adam, Sam, Sean, Natalie, Lena, Ragnar and Erland the house was waking up. Shutters were opened, the cellar was invaded, the kitchen was a bang and a clatter and the leaves of The Tree over our chairs swayed to the rhythm of the blues and we sat back and enjoyed……

10^th of July: temperature 26 degrees day and 20 degrees night, wine: Bourie Du Maurel, Chateau Oupia and Nature. Lots and lots of everything plus headless children squealing everywhere. What joy to be numbed enough by good wine and good food to ignore them.

11^th July, Samsam with his new license and need to drive picked up Emily and Chris from Toulouse, leaving the house at 8 am which for a kid who thinks 1pm is too early to start his day, was a show of desperation to drive a car being 18 and all! Designer clad he roared off into the morning without a care not knowing what lessons life would teach him that day, to include forgetting to have cash for the Peage, getting lost on a straight road, how to open the fuel tank, where to park in a confusing airport, where he did park and how to repeat it all again on the way back.

Lunches of yummy vegetables, exquisite shrimps with hot days by the pool and cool winds at night heralded the arrival of Niclas, Ami, Rasmus and Joel  adding  2 more boys to the 3 plus baby already whizzing around in a whirlwind of uncomplicated, non computerized childhood fun that had not been seen since my days !