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Best Languedoc Wines

If you're coming to Languedoc and you like good wine, then your're in for a real treat. With 6 stand-out wine appelations, together with some excellent independent producers you can not fail to be impressed, especially if you stick to our tried and tested selection.

  

1. Picpoul-de-Pinet

vineyards
Vineyards of Languedoc
If you're going to drink white wine in the South of France, then it has to be Picpoul-de-Pinet. The production of this world famous white wine is centered around a few small villages close to the Bassin de Thau, that produces much of France's high class oysters and mussels. Situated on a limestone plateau, the vineyards produce an outstanding white wine. The wine is made from a single Piquepoul grape variety and is a light acidic wine, with citrus fruit aromas. It is the perfect accompaniment to seafood.

Most Picpoul-de-Pinet wines are of a high standard, but my personal choice would include:

  • Domaine St Martin de la Garrique
  • Domaine Felines Jourdan
  • Hugues Beaulieu

 

  

2. Fitou

fitou wineFitou is a large red wine appellation situated North of Perpignan in Roussillon, France. The dominant vine variety is Carignan which constitutes 40% of any blend. Grenache, Llandoner Pelut, Mourvèdre and Syrah are also often blended with it. These wines are made for drinking young, and tend to be tannic with fresh fruit flavours. I find that there are some mediocre Fitou's. I have great faith in the Wine Co-operative at Tuchan that produces the popular Mont Tauch wines, with the distinctive black and white label. Head winemaker Michel Marty who has led the cooperative for the last 15 years has overseen an impressive investment in both the winery and in the vineyards of its members. He has also rigorously enforced a policy of paying wine growers based on the quality of the finished wine. The result is a consistently high standard of wine.

My choice of Fitous would include:

  • Mont Tauch
  • Rocflamboyant Fitou, La Grande Reserve 2004. This wine is extremely popular with the locals and outsells its more famous Mont Tauch sibling. 
  • Les Crouzels

  

3. Saint-Chinian

st chinian wine
St Chinian: consistently high standard wines
At the foot of the Montagne-Noire (Black Mountains) and covering the picturesque Orb valley, the Saint-Chinian appeallation was formed in 1982 to group together the wine production from twenty villages, centering around the town of Saint-Chinian. With its strong focus on high quality wine production, Saint-Chinian wines have won a well-deserved reputation for fruity, full-bodied wines. Although some rose is produced, my preference is to stick with the reds.

Saint-Chinian wines to look out for include:

  • Mas Champart
  • Domaine Canet Valette
  • Domaine Clos Bagatelle

  

4. Faugeres

faugeres
Fantastic Faugeres wines
This little wine appellation created only in 1982 produces consistently good wines. The secret too it lies in the steep hills surrounding the sleepy village of Faugeres, high up above Beziers. The hillsides are predominantly made from schist, which provides a unique soil drainage and moisture retention. Typically, the Faugeres wines are full of ripe fruit liquorice. The Faugeres wine appelation also includes an excellent rose. I am naturally a little suspicious of rose wines - like I am off 'special boards in restaurants. But the Faugeres wine is extremely well-made. My prediction is that the Faugeres wines, little known outside of France, will become the next 'discovered wine'. My advice is therefore to buy it now whilst the prices are such good value.

My favourite Faugeres wine is the Mas Olivier. But you can't go far wrong with any wines produced by this tightly controlled appelation.

  

5. Minervois

Minervois vineyards
Minervois vineyards
Created in 1985, the Minervois AOC uses Mourvedre and Syrah grapes to bring an aromatic finesse to the Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache, Clairette and Muscat grapes. This wine region is located within a triangle formed in-between Beziers, Carcassonne and Narbonne. The region is hilly and the soil is good. As a tip, if you prefer full-bodied reds choose a Minervois from a high altitude vineyard. The reds from the eastern part of the region, towards the Mediterranean, are often well structured with a fine blackcurrant aroma. In the central part of the region, the whites are fresh and rich and slightly sweeter than the whites from the western part of the region, closer to Carcassonne.

 

6. Châteauneuf-du-Pape

chateauneuf
Wine cellars of Chateauneuf du Pape
Although technically not quite in Languedoc, Chateauneuf-du-Pape is such an amazing wine and so close-by  that it is worth a detour up to Avignon to seek it out. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines need no introduction to wine buffs everywhere. Situated 20km from Avignon, this appellation of wines is famous the world over. The story of Chateauneuf du Pape begins in the 14th century when the Pope’s court moved to Avignon. John XXII, the second pope from Avignon, who reigned from 1316 to 1334, had a castle built as a summer residence on the heights of the village of Calcernier, several kilometres from Avignon. This village was renamed Châteauneuf du Pape ('the Pope's new house') in 1893,. The small vineyards near to the village produced an excellent wine, known locally as "the Pope’s wine". The Châteauneuf du Pape Appellation was created in 1933. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation, produces wines which are rich, spicy and full-bodied. The preferred grapes are Grenache and Mourvedre. Some have also planted Syrah for the tannin and structure it adds to the wines. The earth around Chateauneuf du Pape is amazingly rocky, but that's one of the secrets of the outstanding Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine. The stones act as a storage heater, soaking up the Provencal sunshine during the day, and releasing the heat into the night, long after sunset.

 

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