languedoc-roussillon terroirs

Languedoc-Roussillon is the largest wine growing region of the world, with a vine cultivation area of 4800 hecta. The year production amounts to 225000 hl red wine, 27.000 hl of rosé wine and 18000 hl of white wines.

There is an enormous overproduction, as one can taste this with the simple vin du table. But a few years ago things started to change.

First of all the young winemakers of the innovative wine cooperatives where those who were granted the AOC decree. The Departement's Aude Appellations Contrôolées are

blanquette de limoux, a.o.c. corbières, a.o.c. fitou, chardonnay de limoux, a.o.c. minervois, muscat de frontignan,a.o.c. rivesaltes, saint-chinian, côtes de roussillon-village, côtes du roussillon

First of all the wines of the vineyards with an AOC rating are those being a competition to the well-known wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy - in price and in quality. Even though it is meanwhile chic to collect wines of Languedoc-Roussillon, the prices and the quality are still balanced. Nothwithstanding the wines of winemakers and vinedressers such as Duerrbach, Soria, Guibert, Gauby and Meuser, one of a few vine dressers working strictly biologically, are cult wines.

All these now well reputed winemakers had different professions before they decided to make wine and to use the potential of the high-quality vineyards of the Languedoc-Roussillon. The local vinedressers smiled, while these foreign people started to plant Chardonnay vines in a classical land of red vines. Meanwhile they stopped smiling, while watching their vineyards were they grow Mauzac and do not know how to sell it, some of them even think about planting lavendar. The Chardonnays of the Languedoc-Roussillon, first of all those vinificated in Limoux, are nowadays well known all over the world, the Mauzac ...

There are many Appellations in the wine regin of the Roussillon and there are many additional labels, but the appellations of the communities are of higher quality. Amongst others, these are:

The Appellations of Montpeyroux, Pic St. Loup ( Hérault) and Saint-Chinian stand for the unique development of vinegrowing and wine making of this French vine growing reagion. There is no other wine region in the world which has seen such a change, such drastic re-structuring and such enormous success as the Languedoc-Roussillon and its new, young generation of experimenting and forward thinking wine makers.