{"id":1036,"date":"2018-09-27T08:46:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T08:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1036"},"modified":"2018-10-27T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2018-10-27T19:04:53","slug":"tasting-in-the-languedoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1036","title":{"rendered":"Tasting in the Languedoc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Languedoc is in the southwest of France.\u00a0 Until the 13th<\/sup> century, it was considered as a separate entity, Occitania, home of the troubadours, easy living and rich food.\u00a0 There are no more troubadours, but the rest remains.\u00a0 It is today the part of France with the greatest production of wine grapes.\u00a0 The wine producing area is very large, stretching along the Mediterranean coast from the west of the C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne to the Spanish border and inland, at its furthest extreme, beyond Carcassonne.<\/p>\n

Wine has been made here since this area was colonized by the Greeks.\u00a0 Today, for the most part, the grapes grown here are of the Rh\u00f4ne variety: Syrah, Grenache, Mourv\u00e8dre, Cinsault and Carignan in red; Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier in white.\u00a0 There are more than 30 sub-regions recognized as AOCs (Appellations d’Origine Contr\u00f4l\u00e9e), which are much the same as AVAs in the United States.\u00a0 There are even more sub-sub-regions, called Indications G\u00e9ographique Prot\u00e9g\u00e9e, which are not quite as well recognized but may still make some excellent wines.<\/p>\n

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Sadly there was a time, not that long ago, when wines from the Languedoc were rough, alcoholic, sour and for some people, better used for cooking than drinking.\u00a0 We are pleased to say that this is no longer the case.\u00a0 The reason, as we see it, is the advent of organic winemaking in the last 10 to 15 years.\u00a0 Referred to as bio<\/em> by the French, it has sparked a revolution in Languedoc wines.\u00a0 It may be attention to detail, more intense vinification techniques, stainless steel tanks or just plain cleanliness but the wines of the Languedoc today have little to do with the past.<\/p>\n

Now, so we have found, there are many excellent wines to be had in red, white and pink.\u00a0 And the prices are not to be believed.\u00a0 For example, we have been drinking a ros\u00e9 that Lucie in particular has enjoyed (Domaine l\u2019Espinel) that costs less than five euros ($6).\u00a0 There are some really interesting reds and whites for which the top\u00a0 price we have seen is around 25 euros ($30).\u00a0 Perhaps none of them are enough to make the great Chateauneuf du Papes worry, but they are really fine wines, full of complexity and depth and ready to drink now.\u00a0 We think they will age well, but they may in fact be at their peak in a few years after harvest.<\/p>\n

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The wine tasting experience is a revelation.\u00a0 The wineries are not crowded.\u00a0 In fact in September, at the time of our visits, there have been no others sharing the tasting rooms with us.\u00a0 And every winery seems to make eight to ten wines and the server wants you to try them all.\u00a0 It does help to speak French, but we have found that all the servers are eager to try out their English.\u00a0 Plus, most of them do not charge for tasting.<\/p>\n

The Languedoc is sunbaked and can be quite warm, especially in the summer months.\u00a0 Of course, this produces wines that are particularly flavorsome.\u00a0 It is not California, with wineries lined up on highways.\u00a0 No, on the contrary, you may have to drive around, get a little lost, and find wineries spaced out rather distant from each other even within AOC regions.\u00a0 On the other hand, you are likely to make discoveries that you will remember warmly and search for in wine stores for years to come.\u00a0 We have found that, for the most part, only the lowest quality wines on any vineyard\u2019s list are the ones exported to North America so a wine tasting trip is likely to open your eyes \u2013 and your nose and tongue \u2013 to some delightful new experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Languedoc is in the southwest of France.\u00a0 Until the 13th century, it was considered as a separate entity, Occitania, home of the troubadours, easy living and rich food.\u00a0 There are no more troubadours, but the rest remains.\u00a0 It is today the part of France with the greatest production of wine grapes.\u00a0 The wine producing area … Continue reading Tasting in the Languedoc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1069,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions\/1069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}