Aigues-Mortes is an almost perfectly preserved medieval village where they drink a lot of rosé wine. It is small but it has a large history. The Romans were there; in fact they probably established Aigues-Mortes as a port a few thousand years ago. Charlemagne was there and erected a nearby tower which is still a part of the fortified walls of the village. Two of the Renaissance’s mightiest rulers, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Francois I, King of France, met there to settle their differences in 1538.
The walls of Aigues-Mortes
They do love their rosé there. As you drive into town you’ll see a large flamingo of the style that used to grace suburban lawns in the 1950’s. (It’s pink, get it?) The next thing you’ll see is the walls that surround the town. They’re high (36 feet), thick (10 feet) and they surround Aigues-Mortes. Visitors don’t require too much imagination to see archers protecting the villagers from advancing armies. Once within the walls, however, everything is peaceful and serene. The streets are narrow, with neatly preserved stone houses on either side, most sporting flower boxes to beautify their hometown.
The Place St. Louis in Aigues-Mortes.
In the middle of the village is the Place St. Louis. Now this particular saint was also King Louis IX who actually had some knowledge of Aigues-Mortes. He’s the one who built the Tower of Constance which is still a part of the walls today. He sailed, twice, from Aigues-Mortes off to the Crusades. And of course a statue of this saintly king stands in the main square today. There is a small church just off the square, Notre-Dame-des-Sablons or Our Lady of the Sands. (There is no lack of sand in the area around Aigues-Mortes, with salt marshes today between the town and the Mediterranean.) The church also dates to Saint Louis’ time – he may have had it built – and the intervening 800 years have seen a lot of religious turmoil there.
Just behind the statue is a square surrounded by cafés and restaurants, all with huge umbrellas out front. Having some shade is a good thing, as it can get pretty warm in the south of France, especially at the time of a midday meal. As far as we could tell they all serve the same type of fare: southern French cuisine with an accent on seafood. And they all serve the same kind of wine: rosé. There’s something special about sitting under an umbrella in the south of France drinking local wine along with your freshly caught fish.
The region around Aigues-Mortes is called the Camargue. Rosé is the kind of wine they make there. (The most widely sold is Listel, which is also fairly available in North America.) And, located where it is, the Camargue is feeling the effects of climate change. As everywhere, higher temperatures are affecting sugar content and thus alcohol levels. Grape vines growing on sandy soils are more likely to feel the effects of droughts. And the rising sea levels are creating problems of salinity in the soils of the Camargue. As winemakers adapt to changing conditions, the rosés of Aigues-Mortes may not be the flamingo-pale pink wines of the future.
As to the name, Aigues is a derived form of the Latin word aqua, or water. Mortes is old French for dead. So Dead Water refers to the salt marshes that are between the town and the sea. Ignore that, and enjoy your time in Aigues-Mortes.