The Wines of Faugères - my new book
'And why write a book on
Faugères? Because it is there. Because it is the nearest vineyard to my
Languedoc home. Because I love the
wines and the variety of the wines within this small area. I tasted and drank
my first Faugères on an early visit to the Languedoc in 1987, when Gérard
Alquier gave me a perfumed 1985, as well as his experimental cuvée of an oak-aged
wine and I immediately loved the spicy flavours of fruits rouges and garrigues. And I have never been able to resist them
ever since.
Faugères is a compact vineyard, compared
to many of the other appellations of the Languedoc, with for red wine, the same
five grape varieties, grown on similar soil, but none the less the variety is
infinite, prompted by the human hand and the perceptible differences between
the different villages. And the white
wine, which accounts for a meagre 2% of the appellation, amply demonstrates how
the white wines of the Languedoc are developing and improving with every
vintage, their wonderful herbal flavours conjuring up the scents of the herbs
of the garrigues, fennel and bay and
thyme. And pink Faugères, which accounts
of just 18% of the appellation, provides delicious refreshing drinking with
acidity and delicate fruit. The wines of
Faugères should always have a distinctive freshness, which places them amongst
the finest of the Languedoc.'
No prizes for guessing what I shall be drinking this evening to celebrate!
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