Friday, January 19, 2024

Wine Tasting Opportunities in the Languedoc Region of Southern France

 

Languedoc region of Southern France, map from Wikipedia under Languedoc..

For more detailed information on French wines and regions and recipes you could go to the French Wikipedia, and read it, or translate it.


My top winery visits which you might also enjoy

1  Frontenac Wine Bottle Souvenir shop and tasting

Quaint little town centre shop with parking alongside. Huge range of wine bottles. Dry and sweet wines. Family business for centuries with historic winery items overhead. Convenient toilet. Loads to look at. Entertainment for non drinkers. I bought lavender soap at under 5 Euros. 


2 Fitou



3 Cave L'Etoile, Banyuls, France

At the back of town. Strip counter where locals pop in to try tasting from a couple of bottles and buy the one they prefer.



4 Amelie

Her story is that her grandfather wonated a grandson, who he planned to name Emile. Eventually he had a grandason, and ended up an enthusiastic supporter of Amelie's plan to start a vineyard, which she did in a garage, called a garage, and now she is expanding. From her terrace there's a lovely view of the vines below. Notice some great family paintings. 

My husband is a someelier and wine educator and does presentations about regions of vineyards. We were doing the Languedoc and he asked to see her barrels. I took a phtoto of her in her rocking chair. Sort of sums her up, The traditional.

We could not find it easily but we persisted. They are building.

Preparing, building  a tasting area outside for the summer 2024.

 If you cannot get in here, another bigger banner for another winery is just beyond. We did not go to the other place on this trip. the driver cant drink or taste too much. In January it was getting dark and needed to drive back along the winding back roads and to our hotel.

5 Katie Jones


Katie Jones offering wine for tasting.

Katie Jones up in the world.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. 2024, January. Copyright.

Her vineyard is inland in the mountains, at Tuchan, between  Narbonne and Perpignan.

A spectacular long drive up and down winding mountainside roads to the famous Katie Jones. She became famous when somebody climbed over her fence and twisted the taps on the barrels to llet all her wine flood out in unlucky for her wines, 2013. Fortunately, she was the former admin in the local co-operative and all the locals (exept one - could even have been just a child vandal, nobody knows) rallied around to help support her business. She is an enthusiast for rescuing old vines, using them to make new wines. 

Naked Wines talks of those rescuing her being the financial 'angels'.

Useful Websites

https://www.nakedwines.com/producers/katie-jones



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