Languedoc Roussillon wines

Although a rather small Languedoc village, Aniane has a world-wide reputation as the home of Mas de Daumas-Gassac where owner Aimé Guibert challenged the traditional winse bureaucracy by making top quality wines outside the very restrictive Appellattion Controllée system - and then the locals saw off an attempt by a large multinational to buy up a significant chunk of the local vineyards in order to make some bland, branded wine.

Importantly the village lies in the heart of the Languedoc vineyards about 40km North East of Montpellier (34 Herault. Languedoc)  Hence it makes an ideal focus for the  substantial Aniane Wine Fair (Salon des Vins) on the weekend of 25-26 July 2009 - several dozen wine makers  from Aniane and surrounding villages (including Daumas Gassac) will be attending, including one of my favourties - the Mas de la Serranne. where Isabelle & Jean-Pierre Venture make some excellent Coteaux du Languedoc AC wines blending traditional Languedoc with  Rhône grape varietals which produce intense. but smooth, herby red wines.

For more info see Aniane Wine Fair

Exhibiting at Bristol’s Wine Festival (10-12 July 2009) will be Domaine Treloar, a small vineyard in the Roussillon region of southern France.

We are a small, high-quality vineyard and winery in the Roussillon, France’s most exciting wine region.Owned and operated by Jonathan Hesford and Rachel Treloar.
As Vignerons Indépendants, we grow all the grapes, make the wine and bottle it at the domaine. We do not buy in fruit or wine from other sources.
We also do all the work in the vineyards and winery ourselves and only employ outside help for pruning and picking.

There are a significant number of British winemakers in France and this domaine is run by ” a bloke from Yorkshire and a girl from New Zealand” , producing Cotes de Roussillon AC, Muscat de Rivesaltes and Vins de Pays d’Oc wines at Trouillas (66 Pyrenees Orientales) south of Perpignan. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for informal visitors, they also offer a “How wine is made” tour. A friendly, informative and thoroughly enjoyable guided tour of the vineyards and winery followed by a tutored tasting of our wines. .

If you cannot get to southern France you can visit their stand at the Bristol Wine Festival (10-12 July 2009) or purchase in the UK from Leon Stolarski Fine Wines or HC Wines.

For more info on the Britsol Wine & Food Festival see www.bristolwineandfoodfair.co.uk - worth a visit to see a number of French and UK Vineyards, major importers and wine merchants plus a wealth of food products.

For more info on Domaine Treloar see www.domainetreloar.com

Too early for your next visit to France then have a look at specialist wine merchants Stone, Vine and Sun who have some new offerings and tastings to tempt:-

There’s something very complete about our annual offer of wines from the Languedoc and Roussillon: with whites, rosés and reds, and wonderful fortified wines, the Vins Doux Naturels which are such a speciality of the region, there should be something for all tastes. Secondly, there are wines for every budget; at every level we believe these wines continue to offer terrific interest and value for money, at a time when finding such within the euro zone has become harder than ever. That’s why we continue to promote and recommend the wines of Languedoc-Roussillon with such enthusiasm. Now the region has really got its act together too, coming up with a unified marketing strategy under the jolly banner of “Sud de France”, and the creation of a new all-embracing Languedoc appellation, which stretches across the whole arc from east of Montpellier down to Perpignan.

The tastings are in Hampshire and London

Hampshire: 7th May 2009, 6.00-8.30 pm
TerraVina, 174 Woodlands Road, Woodlands, Netley Marsh, New Forest, Nr Southampton, SO40 7GL

London: 21st May 2009, 6.00-8.30 pm
Maison de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon, 6 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PD

For more info see Stone, Vine and Sun
No.13 Humphrey Farms, Hazeley Road, Twyford, Winchester SO21 1QA
Tel: 01962 712351 Fax: 01962 717545
Email: sales@stonevine.co.uk

If you are a fan of Muscat wines then Perpignan (66 Pyrenees-Orientales, Languedoc-Roussillon) should be your destination from 31 January - 2 February 2009 with the Rencontres Mediterraneenes du Muscat (Mediterranean Muscat’s Convention).

Open to the public, the event offers culinary and wine-tasting workshops and the opportunity to taste a range of Muscat wines and Vins Doux Naturels (fortified wines) including St Jean de Minervois, Lunel, Rivesaltes, Frontignan and Mireval in the Languedoc, Beaumes de Venise in Provence, Cap Corse in Corsica and Samos in Greece.

The Muscat grape in its various guises tends to produce wines with the most obviously “grapey” taste, and they are usually sweet or dessert wines , such as the local Muscat de Rivesaltes. However a dry style is produced in Alsace and some domaines in the Languedoc (under the Vin de Pays d’Oc label)

For more info see www.rencontres-muscat.com

For more info on Perpignan see www.perpignantourisme.com

Domaine le Fort

For the first time this November there will be a French Wine Growers Fair in London (21-23 November 2008 at the Barbican). The Salons des Vignerons Independents (Independent Winemakers Fairs) are well established in France and we usually try to get to one of the fairs in Lille, Strasbourg or Paris which take place each November/December. (for more info see www.frenchduck.com) - these tend to be huge events with up to 1000 winemakers attending and offering the public the opportunity to meet the people who make the wine, do some tastings and stock up for the winter.
London’s French Wine-Growers Fair attempts to replicate the format in London from 21-23 November 2008 - with 130 traditional wine makers showing their wines - more than 500 wines on taste - and the opportunity to buy at vineyard gate prices (although regrettably with UK excise duty and VAT payable).
One of the exhibitors is a favourite of mine - Domaine le Fort from the little-known appellation of Malepère AOC near Carcassonne in the Languedoc. This is a small but beautiful domaine which is centred around a building which looks as though it was a fort for the French Foreign Legion, where Stephanie and Marc Pagès make delightful wines such as the Tour du Fort, a blend of Merlot, Grenache and Cabernet Franc, aged in oak. Not otherwise available in the UK, this could be a rare opportunity to taste and buy wines which seldom get to our shores, often because the volume of production is insufficient for the supermarkets and other importers.

Half-Price tickets (£10 reduced from £20) available from www.frenchwinegrowersfair.com - Domaine le Fort is on stand 22
For more info on Domaine le Fort see www.domainelefort.com

Biodynamic wine comes to the fore (or Four!) in September with a new series on making wine biodynamically in southern France.

A biodynamic wine is essentially an organic wine, avoiding pesticides and fertilisers in the vineyard and (as far as possible) any artifical chemicals in the winemaking process. But there is also an added “cosmic” dimension which determines key stages in the winemaking process from vine to bottle which are influenced by the phases of the moon and alignment of the planets.

Other examples of Biodynamic vineyards are Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Leroy in Burgundy, Domaine Huet in Vouvray and Coulée de Serrant in the small Loire appellation of Savennieres.

Few are convinced that this approach is more than just a little bizarre, or that it produces distinctly better wines, although each of the established vineyards listed do have an excellent reputation.

Channel 4 will be showing a 6-part series about an Englishman’s quest to create a biodynamic wine in the Roussillon in the south of France starting on 4 September 2008 with Chateau Monty

Top wine critic and author, Monty Waldin, has decided to put his money where his opinionated mouth is and pack it all in to make wine biodynamically in rural France. He has just over a year to turn 5.4 acres into top selling organic wine. Renovating an old cabin on his vineyard so he can babysit his vines 24/7, his only company will be his donkey and occasionally his high maintenance girlfriend Silvana when she jets in from Italy. Regarded by peers as a bit loopy because of his views about Biodynamics, and even as the enfant terrible of the wine world (he’s upset the establishment for his harsh criticisms of the wine industry), Monty’s nonetheless forged a successful career and written several award-winning books…But now he’s abandoning life behind the laptop for a new one making his own wine in the French Pyrenees.

As always there is a book to accompany the series - Chateau Montyand respected wine merchant Adnams is stocking the wine - Monty’s Red 2007, Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes - “The aromas of young, herby red fruits and a lively, juicy mouthful of charmingly rustic hedgrow flavours.”
If you want to know more about Biodynamic wines, here is our list of suggested reading:-
Nicolas Joly (owner of Coulée de Serrant) - Biodynamic Wine, Demystified
Monty Waldin (of Chateau Monty) - Biodynamic Wines
George Andrews and Nicolas Joly’s Wine from Sky to Earth: Growing & Appreciating Biodynamic Wine
Wendy E Cook’s The Biodynamic Food and Cookbook: Real Nutrition That Doesn’t Cost the Earth

UPDATE:-
Jamie Goode, writing in the Sunday Express (17 Aug 08) adds: Think of biodynamic wines as “supercharged version of organic,” he says. Work in the vineyard is fitted in around the alignment of the moon and the planets, and growers claim it has improved the quality of their wine. Some of his recommendations include:-

• 2006 Chapoutier Organic Côtes du Rhône, France (£7.99, Waitrose)
• 2005 Bertie Collection Syrah, Minervois, France (£7.99, Oddbins)
• 2004 Didier Barral Faugeres “Jadis”, France (£17.30, Les Caves de Pyrene)