A WEEK OF TASTINGS

It’s been a busy few days – firstly, a tasting at the Maison du Languedoc to help select the best 40 wines from the Languedoc to show on the Sud de France stand at the London Wine Trade Fair. That was followed by two mornings of tasting Languedoc for Decanter Magazine, concentrating on Faugères, St. Chinian, Cabardès and Minervois – and in between my local friendly merchant Roberson’s hosted a tasting of their portfolio, with wines from Mas des Dames, Domaine Peyre Rose and Mas Coutelou, which was a new name for me. And this week I spent an afternoon at the Natural Wine Fair, which was organised by Isabelle Legeron M.W., along with importers Les Caves de Pyrène, Aubert & Mascoli, Dynamic Vines, The Wine Story and Yapp Brothers. There were wines from all over the world, but of course I gravitated towards the Languedoc, with a little detour into Tuscany for my friends in Montalcino, at Paradiso di Manfredi. And I have just emerged from two days at the London Wine Trade Fair, where amongst many other things, I tasted our final selection of ‘Prestige Wines from Languedoc-Roussillon’ and also the complete range of the Top 100 Vins de Pays.

Full reports on all these tastings will have to go on hold until the end of the month as we are setting off for the Languedoc tomorrow morning, with a detour into Switzerland to discover the wines of the Valais. So more anon.