We make no attempt to compete with the many specialist wine sites on the internet, but here is our view on our local area, along with a few links and our own comments...

Region

The Mediterranean coast, from the Pyrénées to the border with Provence, and inland has been traditionally known as the 'Midi' wine producing region. The area divides into the Languedoc and Roussillon areas shown on French maps, and produces one third of all the wine made in France (and three times as much as the whole of Australia...!) However, until the end of the 1980's, this was a dismal range of thin red wines which didn't move very far outside the area.

Fortunately, spurred on by the competition from the 'New world' of Australia, South Africa and the Americas, there has been a huge turnaround in the Midi - the old vines have been ripped out and replaced with different and more interesting grape types, the technology of production has improved, and the wines are now generally now more concentrated, complex and worthy of exploration.

The best known areas of the region are usually the Corbieres and Minervois (in Languedoc), Fitou (in Roussillon) and more recently Limoux - which is a source of sparkling wines to rival the mighty Champagne region of the North!

A diagram showing the French wine growing areas

Classification of French Wines

As a background, the French wine hierarchy (best to worst) is:

• AOP - Appellation d'Origine Protegée which has all but replaced the older AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée). Briefly, AOP is a european classification while AOC applies only within France so most international quality wines will now (since 2012) be AOP. Any AOP or AOC wine must operate within very defined guidelines with strict control of which grape type, blend and level of alcohol must be produced and of course being typically French the bodies controlling these wines still call themselves the AOC councils!
• IGP (Since 2009) Indication Geographic Protegée which ensures that the wine comes from grapes grown within the named geographical area but allows the winemaker more flexibility especially with blending. Many very high quality wines fall in this category, which seems a contradiction, so why is that? The problem is the AOP rules - most AOP specifications require a blend of certain grapes to be used, for example to be classed as 'AOP Malepere' our local red wines are usually 50% Merlot blended with other varieties. So, if a winemaker has a few thousand litres of Merlot he has a choice: Blend it with Cabernet Sauvignon to make AOP Malepere, or put it pure into a bottle and sell it as an IGP. It's the same wine, but the pure Merlot doesn't 'fit' the AOP specification.
• VdP (pre 2009) Vin de Pays, a wine 'of the area' where the only control was that the grapes must have been grown in the area.
• VSIG Vin sans Indication Geographique (wine without any geographic limit) / Vin de table / Vin ordinaire / Vin de France - this can be any mix, of any grape, from any where, and is often still weak and thin as the producers squeeze as much wine as possible from the grapes - Quantity over quality!

The Wines of the Midi

The Syrah grape (Shiraz in Australia).

The wines of the Midi now vary from those made from a single grape variety, for example pure Merlot, to more complex blends of up to six or more different grapes, and depending on the producer you may well find all of the above classifications still in use!

The key is to visit the vineyards and taste the wines - most of the producers with more than 20 acres of vines will have a cellar (cave) which you can visit to taste (déguster) their wine and then buy a bottle (or two) of the ones you like.

With the 2016 renaming of French regions we are now in the area known as Occitanie and if your French is up to it, go to the occitanie tourism site, pick the French language, then choose 'Tourism et vins' and on that page is a pdf with a years calendar (May to April) of all the open days and wine events across the region. Be prepared, it's over a hundred pages! Sadly, there is no English translation available.

The Ariége

This is our own department and our nearest winemaker is Coteaux d'engravies in the same valley 5 minutes drive away.

The wines of the Ariége are virtually unknown and unheard of outside the local area. While there was a thriving wine industry prior to the Phylloxera disease in the late 1800s, very few vineyards were then re-established with new vinestocks.

There are now four growers in the department who work together to publish their achievements and a few of these wines are available in local specialist merchants. The wines are fully 'bio' (organic) which means that no pesticides are used and these wines are very good quality and suitable for laying down for many years!

Languedoc

If you are visiting the Languedoc, and wishing to sample some of the high quality, good value wines, and want to avoid the well known areas, then here are some of the places to look:

• Malepére, an area between Mirepoix and Carcassonne, where some excellent wines are being developed, In our view the best are the three chateaux around Malvies, all of whom regularly win gold medals for their wines at the Paris agricultural concours which is one of the most important wine competitions in France:
  • Chateau Guilhem. A family winery for over 100 years, these wines we keep on site for sale - click here for details.
  • Domaine Gayda. A winery and high quality restaurant, see the Gayda website for details.
  • La Louviere. A smaller winery but also with an excellent range of red, white and rose wines. click here for details.
• La Clape, hidden on the coast near Narbonne, is a small appellation producing some excellent wines. It's a name you tend to remember, especially as the wines are much better than their name would suggest! We'd recommend Chateau de la Negly, and Chateau Pech-Redon.
• Cabardès, North West of Carcassonne, is almost ideally situated - warmer than Bordeaux, but cooler and wetter than much of the Languedoc. A number of producers are leaving the cooperatives and launching on their own. We like Chateau de Ventenac, or Chateau de Parazols.
• Limoux, arrayed around the town of the same name, produces excellent sparkling white wine, with a longer history than the champagne region. The 'brut' wine tends to be slightly sweeter than champagne, and the 'demi sec' sweeter still. Much of the Limoux production comes from the large commercial premises, but there are still a small number of independent producers, many still using the traditional 500 year old method, and almost all of whom produce excellent wine.

The site of the Languedoc AOC council.

Roussillon

Roussillon is South of Languedoc, and is the area from Perpignan to Spain stretching 40km inland. Roussillon is significantly smaller than Languedoc, and is best known for the sweet white wine 'Rivesaltes'.

The appellations of Tautavel and Coteaux d'Agly are less well known, and produce excellent wines of very good value.

The site of the Roussillon AOC council.