Languedoc-Roussillon Vineyard :
Vineyards
Introduction
18 Languedoc-Origin Wines…
Here lies a vineyard backed onto the foothills of the Cévennes; over there, another nestling at the foot of the Pyrenees, or perhaps
hooked onto the Massif des Corbières, even huddled inside the Montagne Noire amphitheatre [Black Mountain], or simply lying languid
on the gentle slopes looking down over the lakes.
Across the 40,000 hectares [˜ 100,000 acres] hosting the 18 Languedoc labels, no wine resembles another, the only consistency being the Mediterranean, ever since ancient times, influencing climate and growth: mild winters, hot and dry Indian summers, scents from the scrubland and the winds carrying the sea spray.
30 years of toil has transformed the Languedoc vineyards: Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah have become the popular vine types of new plantations. Each vine type boasts its own wine-growing, wine-making and wine-assembly methods, providing structured and well-balanced Languedoc A.O.C. wines. [A.O.C. - Appellation d’Origine Controllée = Origin-Controlled Wines].
2007 marked the consecration of all such efforts with the official recognition o appellation régionale AOC Languedoc, THE reference name and starting point for the overall reorganisation of Languedoc AOCs, having no less ambition than to become the first AOC of the largest vineyard in the world…
Soils and climates
Just as the grape type constitutes an important reference on a wine list, understanding the soil type and the climate is also interesting for the consumer, since it provides useful information on the taste and character of the wine.
An incredible variety of soil types
In the Languedoc region, we find a vast variety of soil types that vary according to the origin-controlled labels: vast pebble
terraces, sandstone and calcareous clay, limestone and shale, clayey soils, pudding stone, sandy soils, molasse, etc., all assets
of the Languedoc soils, constituting the individual characteristics of each label of origin.
A typically-Mediterranean climate, albeit slightly different to the East
In the Languedoc, the most Southern region of the country, the climate is essentially Mediterranean. Summers are hot and dry
with spring and autumn being rather warm, despite a few possible frosty mornings in April. Winters are also quite mild and
sunny with temperatures rarely falling below 0°C. Rainfall is slight (among the lowest in France in some areas) and the
Tramontana strong winds help dry the grapes and prevent disease. This is the ideal climate for cultivating the vine. Further
west, however, the Mediterranean touch diminishes, mingled with the characteristics of the oceanic climate and influencing
the Cabardès and Malepère labels in particular. Here the mildness of the Atlantic meets up with the harshness of the Mediterranean
giving rise to a climate of transition.
Types of vines
The wines of AOC can consist of only one or several type of vines (the Pale one of Languedoc, for example, is made up only of Pale, the Blanquette Ancestral Method to 100% of Mauzac).
Languedoc red wines
Cabernet Sauvignon
It gives a very coloured, very tannic wine and of long guard, which develops with the age of the complex bouquets with dominant
of underwood. It is suited to ageing under wood. Vinified only, it misses roundness and fat. It is very well adapted on the poor
ground. It is one of largest French type of vines, and one of the most cultivated all over the world.
Carignan
It is established in all Mediterranean midday. With poor yield, it gives wines rather powerful, coloured well, with often hard tannins
and sometimes a certain bitterness finally. One uses it in partnership with other finer type of vines, Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah or Mourvèdre.
Cinsault
Good juice yield. On schists and with poor yield, it produces fruity and flexible wines. This type of vine produces the excellent rosy ones.
Cot (ou Malbec)
Early type of vine which gives coloured wines, tannic, suited to ageing. The wine makings into rosy also give good results. In
Cahors it takes the name of Resident of Auxerre and in Bordeaux de Malbec.
Fer Servadou
It makes it possible to work out rather tannic sharp wines, fairly coloured but with the very typified flavours
Grenache
This type of vine introduced in France with the Middle Ages makes it possible to work out sweet aperitif wines (such as Banyuls, Maury…)
and of very high-class wines of guard, structured and aromatic insofar as the output is controlled (associate with more tannic type
of vines like Syrah or Mourvèdre).
Lledonner Pelut
Potentialities close to black Grenache.
Maccabeu (Maccabeo)
It gives a powerful and aromatic wine, generally not very acid.
Malbec (ou Cot)
Early type of vine which gives coloured wines, tannic, suited to ageing. The wine makings into rosy also give good results.
In Cahors it takes the name of Resident of Auxerre and in Bordeaux de Malbec.
Mourvèdre
It was established in the south of France since the Middle Ages. It gives wines of great quality, vigorous, coloured and rich in
tannins. Very suited to ageing under wood which gives him after a few years an excellent bouquet and much length in mouth.
Muscat à petits rouges
Produced dry wines or sweet wines which develop a good balance between the high content in sugar and acidity.
Syrah
It gives powerful wines with a good alcoholic strength and which are suited to ageing. These wines have an intense color, are
aromatic, tannic, constructed and little acids. Also allows to work out rosy the very fruity ones
Languedoc wines made from “grey” standards bunch
Gray Grenache
It is used, like black Grenache, for the development of the sweet aperitif wines but also of the Gray Wines (sands of the Mediterranean littoral).
Muscatel with small white or rosy grains
It is about a very aromatic type of vine, often used for making of sweet aperitif wines.
Languedoc white wines
Bourboulenc
Originating in the area of Provence. Product of large bunches with bays of average size. It makes it possible to work out fine
and not very alcoholic wines.
Chardonnay
It makes it possible to work out dry white wines, effervescent wines and even of the liqueur-like wines. It has a strong sugar
content but while preserving a certain acidity. It produces balanced, powerful and full wines. Intense and typical dry fruit
flavours, hazel nut, roasted etc). The wines can be kept several years, the duration varying according to the soil of origin
Chenin
It gives either of the effervescent wines or the dry wines or of the liqueur-like wines according to the soil (calcareous or schist).
It makes it possible to work out sharp wines with honey flavours.
Clairette
It is one of oldest type of vines of Languedoc. It gives a rather alcoholic wine, not very acid with the marked flavours (honey),
but leaving a bitterness at the end of the mouth. It is very sensitive to oxidation. It also makes it possible to work out
effervescent wines.
White Grenache
Allows to work out sweet aperitif wines but also dry, long white wines stops some but with sometimes an insufficient acidity.
It is especially present in Roussillon.
White Maccabeu
Give dry, effervescent white wines or sweet aperitif wines. Out of dry and effervescent white wines, it gives light wines but with
a lack of acidity to the not very intense flavours.
Marsanne
It is especially cultivated in the Coasts of the Rhone septentrional, but also present in the Slopes of Languedoc. It gives dry or
effervescent white wines to the fine flavours and average acidityne
Mauzac
Type of vine cultivated in the area of Limoux and Gaillac, for making of quiet or sparkling white wines. It produces wines with
the dominant flavours of apple and sensitive to oxidation.
Muscatel with small white or rosy grains
It is about a very aromatic type of vine, often used for making of sweet aperitif wines.
White Piquepoul
Type of vine originating in the South. It is primarily cultivated in the department of Herault. This type of vine gave its name to a AOC
Coteaux of Languedoc “Picpoul de Pinet” whose production is on the edges of the pond of Thau. It makes it possible to work out typified,
nervous and pleasant dry wines white.
Poker (or Vermentino)
It produces white wines of pale color, balanced and fatty with a great aromatic richness (floral and fruity flavours)
Roussanne
It gives complex white wines, powerful and suited to ageing but it is in regression because it is extremely sensitive and vulnerable
to the diseases (gray rot etc)
Vermentino (ou Rolle)
Corsica type of vine called Poker in the south of France. It produces white wines of pale color, balanced and fatty with a great aromatic
richness (floral and fruity flavours) Cabernet
Source : CIVL www.languedoc-wines.com