Wine Regions
Welcome to our Wine Regions. This is where month-by-month we will build our library of information about all the major wine regions of the world. To start with we take a look at the still undervalued, but very up-and-coming region of the Languedoc in Southern France:
Languedoc-Roussillon
There are many up and coming wine regions of the world, but one of the most exciting is the wonderful area of Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.
More than a third of all French wine is grown in this area and this was the traditional territory of Vin Ordinaire, the staple red of the French workman's lunch, tea and often breakfast too, as well as the strong sweet Vins Doux Naturels. Oh how times have changed!
Covering an area that stretches from Banyuls by the Spanish border through to east of Montpellier and inland to Carcassonne, wine has been produced here since Roman times (Narbonne was the first great city of Gaul), but in the last few years the traditional Vin Rouge has given way to some excellent Vin de Pays which abound here, as nowhere else in France.
The staple vine has been Carignan, but with the worldwide excess production of wine the Languedoc area has been actively replanting with varieties intended to produce better quality wines. Today, increasingly, Grenache, Syrah, Merlot, Cinsaut, Mourvedre, Sauvignon and Viognier are used for wine making. Languedoc is becoming a respected producer of quality wines, and many domains produce wines that command high prices.
Alonside restructuring the vineyards over the last 30 years, there has been a lot of work put into selection of terroirs, crop management, advanced vinification techniques, organic fertilisation and voluntary control of volumes. And, with only 2 appellations in the region in 1977, there are now 11, and these are listed below. You can enjoy some great wines that still represent incredible value in most cases.
Languedoc Appellations:
- Corbieres
- Coteaux du Languedoc
- Minervois
- Saint-Chinian
- Faugeres
- Fitou
- Clairette du Languedoc
- Limoux
- Cabardes
- Minervois La Liviniere
- Plus the VDQS Malepere
Map of the Languedoc Region
