WINE REGIONS OF FRANCE

Have you ever wondered about the names you see on some wine labels? While most American wines are labeled with the name of the grape the wine was made from, a lot of wines from other countries are labeled with the name of the place the grapes were grown.
We thought it would be of interest to present a series of short articles in our newsletter and discuss some of the wine-growing regions. We'll start this month with one we have visited several times. It's in the South of France and it is known as Languedoc-Roussillon.

Vin de Pays

The designation "Vin de Pays" is part of the French system for identifying a wine by the "place name of geographic origin." It is French for "country wine," and they are the local wines produced in the less-famous wine regions of France. Many of these wines can be quite pleasant, but they are not always exported or even bottled. The wines are labeled according to their place of origin and the department (administrative region) where they were produced. In the 1970's the French government began to seriously develop a system to give status and definition to the most identifiable of these wines. A list of authorized regions from which Vin de Pays could originate was created during that time. The largest concentration of them are in the "Midi" from near Avignon, along the Mediterranean coast, to the border with Spain. A large part of the Loire is also Vin de Pays, but there are other Vin de Pays throughout France.

Languedoc-Roussillon

Languedoc as a wine region covers the three departments of Aude, Gard, and Hérault. Roussillon is much smaller, covering the southern part of the department of Pyrénées-Orientales from north of Perpignan south to the Spanish border. The regions are now known collectively as Languedon-Roussillon. They cover wines from the lower reaches of the Rhône spreading west to encompass the entire Mediterranean coastline from the Rhône to the Pyrènees and the Spanish border, as far north as Carcassonne, the Massif Central and Nimes.
Languedoc-Roussillon has always been known for their red table wines, but they also have white table wines and dessert wines. Many wines are produced from a blend of several varieties, with some appellations even specifying the grapes in the blend. But there are an increasing number of varietal wines (those which state on the label the grape variety used). The red wine wines are most often a blend of Carignan, Cinsault and Grenache, with Syrah and Mourvèdre more recent additions. There is also increasing interest in single varietal wines, sold as Vin de Pays. Those most commonly found are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah.
The demand for chilled wines to accompany the seafood found along the Mediterranean has traditionally been met by rosé wines, but there has been increasing demand for white wines. With modern vinification techniques and improved methods of viticulture, there has been an enormous growth in white wine production. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are the fashionable white wine grapes of the moment, but the traditional white varieties of the region are also being revamped. Some of the traditional white varieties include the following: Marsanne, Rousanne, Picpoul, Bourboulenc, and Viognier.
Languedoc-Roussillon is the single most important wine region in terms of volume of wine produced and also in terms of the importance of viticulture to the region's economy. Despite its quantitative importance, however, the area produces only about 10% of France's Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) wines. For many years the only AOC wines were Collioure and Fitou, but in the mid 80's, the quality of wines improved and other areas were elevated to AOC status. Some AOC wines to look for include those from Corbières, Faugères, Minervois, St-Chinian, Costières de Nîmes, Coteaux du Languedoc, or Côtes du Roussillon. An attractive sparkling wine comes from Blanquette de Limoux. This area is also famous for their dessert wines because the climate is warm enough to sufficiently ripen the grapes. Vin Doux Naturels (VDN) are produced by adding spirit to naturally sweet wine to arrest its fermentation so the natural sweetness is retained. Dessert wines can be found from the appellations of Banyuls, Frontignan, Lunel, Maury, Mireval, Rivesaltes or St-Jean-de-Minervois. The majority of dessert wines are white, made from Muscat, Malvoisie, or Maccabéo. But Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault, or Syrah are used in Banyuls to produce a dessert wine resembling Port.