land of wine

Wine is the the most important export of France and due to its quality it forms a major part of the international prestige of the country. The wines of France are part of life and culture.

The old, prestigious wines are sometimes auctioned - and may gain, as in December 1984, the sum of Euro 168.000 for a bottle of Château-Lafite.

But most people will be satisfied with a bottle of wine at around 5 Euros ...

The prices for ordinary wines vary in quality, depending on the terroir, being the criteria strictly connected by the French Wine Law for the cultivation of quality wines. Amongst others, this critera is based on the type of soil and the climate, the blending type of vine and strong limitations in quantities. Cuvées may be produced in order to refine the best wines and to make them more complete and round; the ratio of mixture is kept secret, in Languedoc-Roussillon as it is in Bordeaux or Burgundy.

The Languedoc-Roussillon Wine Region

is the world's largest connected vine growing area, and the largest vine growing region of France (40 %). Each year more than 20 million hecta litres wine are produced in this region.

Quality and quantity often differ, first of all for the simple « vins du table ».

produce outstanding wines - still at fair prices. A lot of red wines and white wines of Roussillon and Languedoc have been granted the important decree AOC - the young, dynamic vinedressers are in a constant break-up.

At the end of the seventies the wines of the huge region from the river Rhone in the East to the Pyrnees in the West, the Central Massive in the South and to the Mediterrenean Sea where spreading fear amongst wine lovers. A sea of cheap, sour wines, rich of alcohol was flooding the markets.



Unknown pioneers - like Marlene Soria, the former rugby star Gérard Gauby, Christian Meuser and many others started with new, curious ideas and where often laughed at. They neglected the conventions, stopped quantity productions, banned the chemicals from the vineyards and planted fine vines such as Syrah, Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet-Sauvingon. They decided for strong quality limitations, latest state-of-the-arts cellar techniques and relied on the unique identity of the different terroirs. The wines of Pic St. Loup in Minervois, those of the cooperatives of Limoux in the departement of the Aude or Saint-Hilaire in the Departement of the Hérault are only a few examples for the uncomparable development of this region.

The old fashioned vine-dressers still seemed to be upset, but the new winemakers are different from the old generation: studying in Bordeaux, Burgundy, California or Germany, coming back home, utilising unique potential of the terroirs of their home, surprising the wine experts all over the world.

The perfect climate of this region with the sunny hill landscapes, latest state-of-the-arts techniques, biological soil cultivation, radical quantity limitations, the vintage of highly ripe grapes at latest possible dates during the summer season, result in intense wines of high tanins with long storage capacity.

Unfortunately these perfect winemakers are still a minority. Stubborness, unintelligible subvention politics in Brussels, disagreeing cooperatives form the majority, spray pesticids and fungicids, so that their vines produce as many grapes as possible, to gain most quantity (and less quality) and the most of the subventions paid in Brussels.

Avoid drinking these « vins du table », decide to taste the wines of Appellations, unique, fruity, tasty wines, with their outstanding flavour of berries and spices. The wine of the various terroirs and climate zones are wines with ripe tanins combined with finesse and structure, and - even though they can be stored for a long period - they are nearly perfect in youth.

Appellations and Terroirs