Languedoc Roussillon The Wines and Winemakers
Firstly, many apologies to my regular readers for completely neglecting my blog for past few weeks. My excuse was my end of November deadline for my own book, The wines of the Languedoc, which is planned for publication on 22nd March.
Meanwhile Paul Strang has brought out a completely new
edition of a book he first wrote in 2002, Languedoc Roussillon, the Wines and
Winemakers. Jason Shenai is the
photographer, as he was for Paul’s earlier book, and the new book is a visual
delight. I first enjoyed the humorous contrast between the inside front and
back covers – you will have to look at the book yourself to see what I
mean. Throughout the book Jason has
very effectively captured the expressions of the various vignerons, the wry
smile of Thierry Navarre; the sensitivity of Marion Gallet of Roc des Anges; the
vivacious intensity of Katie Jones of Domaine Jones. There are some magical landscapes, one taken
near my Languedoc village of Roujan – I would like to know exactly where, and
where did Jason find that particular dry-stone wall of schist in Faugères?
As well as a brief introduction to each area, covering the
basics of the various appellations, there is also a succinct history of the
Languedoc and details about practices in the vineyard and cellar and a summary
of the most commonly found grape varieties.
However, the real nub of the book is all the information
about the various producers. Paul’s
blurb boasts more than 670 growers, who are arranged by appellation and area. For some he has written small profiles,
giving an approximate price point for each wine that is mentioned, as well as
an overall star rating for the estate, whereas for others there are just the
contact details and a rating. I am full
of admiration for all that attention to detail.
As with any selection, it is always interesting to see who is included
and who is omitted. Inevitably I thought:
where is so and so? Or who are they? as
I did for Muscat de Lunel, for example. Château Grès Saint Paul, as the oldest estate,
deserves its place; Domaine de la Croix Saint-Roch is a name that is completely new to me,
but where is the most important estate of the appellation, Domaine le Clos de Bellevue? Inevitably with so many growers, it is impossible
to keep tabs on everyone – Domaine Plan de l’Homme in the Terrasses du Larzac
has been sold to les Grands Chais de France; Domaine la Croix Vanel in Caux is
now owned by Marc-Olivier Bertrand and Faugères has only had one cooperative
since 2010.
But those are niggles. There is no doubt that this is a very
useful addition to our wine book shelves.
I am planning to explore Roussillon in more detail and I shall certainly
be consulting it to see who I should be going to visit, with the help of some
excellent maps, that show very clearly who is where. Paul and I agreed very amicably that our two books will compliment each other perfectly, and you will just have to wait until 22nd March to see how
Softback available from Amazon for £35.00
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