Signs are that, after a mutually profitable marriage of convenience in the mid to late 1990s, Californian wine producers are now well and truly divorced from the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
Having been rebuffed in its attempt to make top-quality wine near Aniane in the hills of the Hérault, Napa Valley's flagship Robert Mondavi Winery has just ditched its Vichon Mediterranean brand and sent its Languedoc winemaker off to Italy to make wine at Ornellaia (which it is effectively running nowadays). Ownership of this range of Languedoc varietals was sold last week to Sieur d'Arques, the dominant co-op in Limoux and one of the companies that provided wine for Vichon, for just 18 million francs – barely enough to buy a decent new marketing concept in California.
Now that northern California is over its phylloxera-exacerbated shortage of inexpensive Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot, it has little interest in the bulk wines of the Languedoc that once kept the 'fighting varietal' market alive. This, and a slowdown in demand for basic French wine, has had a direct effect on stock levels in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
Wine producers on the bottom rung of quality, those producing basic vin de table or the most ordinary Vins de Pays, still have tanks full of last year's wine, with the vines outside rapidly approaching this year's harvest.
As a result, Narbonne's hypermarkets were invaded last month by local wine producers furious that they were selling (presumably even cheaper) wine from Italy. Such routine protests are futile however. It is a little known and rarely acknowledged fact that France has been the world's biggest importer of Italian wine for decades, ever since Algeria won its independence. Such protectionism as there was is fading fast.
As the world's single most productive wine region, the Languedoc-Roussillon is, hardly surprisingly, extremely fragmented – which means that prices, and value, are all over the place. The world's bulk wine brokers may have lost interest in the bottom end of the market and closed a few offices in the region, but that is no reason why discerning wine buyers should lose interest.
The Languedoc region, and increasingly Roussillon to the south, offers the greatest concentration of hand-crafted French wines with real individuality for under £10/$15 a bottle. By far the most interesting producers are the individual domaines, typically selling a mix of Vins de Pays and local appellations (Corbières, Fitou, Minervois, Faugeres, St Chinian, Coteaux du Languedoc and Costières de Nîmes) that truly express their superior vineyard origins.
Such bargains would seem tailor-made for Britain's penny-conscious wine drinkers, but curiously Americans are in general better served than their British counterparts, thanks to a handful of importers who do their own homework and scout out the new and interesting domaines that are sprouting down here every year (see list below).
Too many British importers rely on too few large merchant companies and brokers instead. And even Parisians are not particularly well served; Jean-Claude Vrinat of the restaurant and wine shop Taillevent is one of the few wine merchants there to have taken the Languedoc seriously.
An obvious exception to the rule in London is La Vigneronne of London SW7 (+44 (0)20 7589 6113) whose owners are now based near St Rémy de Provence and buy directly from many a cellar door. Bennetts of Chipping Campden (+44 (0)1386 840392), Richards Walford of Stamford (+44 (0)1780 460 451) and Gauntleys of Nottingham (+44 (0)115 911 0555) also do some original scouting. Oddbins' buyer also recently scoured the south and come back with many small parcels, the best of which are listed below.
Here are some wines tasted recently, currently available in the UK, listed in approximate ascending order of price, that offer evidence that at the top end of what the Languedoc and Roussillon have to offer is some of the world's finest wine value. All except the first two are red.
Ch Lascaux 2000 £6.99, Bennetts of Chipping Campden. Really bracing, full-bodied yet delicate blend of white Rhône grapes from one of the most reliable producers of the Coteaux du Languedoc.
Domaine Camplazens Blanc 2000 £9.49, *Oddbins. The terraces of the Hérault challenge those of the northern Rhône with this taut, mineral and thoroughly exciting Viognier.
Ch Grande Cassagne, Costières de Nîmes. UK importer La Vigneronne, US importer Robert Kacher. Thoroughly good value estate in one of the world's most useful appellations on the border between Languedoc and southern Rhône. US importers have concentrated on this area west of the Rhône delta.
Ermitage de Pic St Loup 1999 £5.49, Waitrose. The 1999 marks a return to form for this underpriced Syrah-dominated blend from one of the most reliable subregions of the Coteaux du Languedoc, Pic St Loup.
Ch Pech Latt Vieilles Vignes 1998, Corbières. Excitingly better than the regular 1999 which Waitrose are selling at £5.99. Both are organic.
Domaine de l'Auris 1998 Côtes du Roussillon £6.99, Safeway. This gutsy southern Syrah shows just how much progress is being made with Roussillon reds. Well worth the money.
Ch Pech Redon Sélection La Clape 1998, Coteaux du Languedoc £6.99. UK importer Majestic, US importer Martin Scott Wines of NY. The seaside mountain of La Clape has one of the most tastable terroirs anywhere; the best-made wines, whites as well as reds, positively reek of iodine, schist and the sea. This gentle, scented red is a bargain and should continue to give pleasure for another year or two.
Domaine du Clos des Fées, Les Sorcières 2000 Côtes du Roussillon £7.49, *Oddbins. Lively, if heady, blend of ancient and modern from just south-east of the Corbières appellation.
Borie de Maurel, Minervois from about £7.49, *Oddbins. This producer in one of the highest parts of the Minervois appellation is a) head of La Livinière winemakers group b) a karaoke fan and c) maker of some extremely seductive concentrated wine. Cuvée Scylla showed a new direction for Syrah; his Rêve de Carignan 2000 may do the same for Carignan; and La Féline 1999 is one of the most zesty Minervois around.
La Caramangue, Minervois. Winemaker Jean-Baptiste Senat of Trausse is fast making a reputation for suave reds.
Ch L'Euzière, Cuvée les Escarboucles 1998 Pic St Loup £8.99, Unwins. A thoroughly sophisticated wine in terms of texture (not unlike the Hortus) with deep, earthy, rich Syrah fruit.
Patrick Le Sec Seléctions £6-12. John Armit Wines of London W11 (+44 (0)20 7908 0660), The Wine Corporation of Northampton (+44 (0)8000 282222) and the Rare & Fine Wine Company of Aldworth, Berkshire (+44 (0)1635 579702). An interesting range of particularly sophisticated, opulent Languedoc reds from different domaines.
Domaine de l'Hortus, Pic St Loup. UK importer H & H Bancroft (+44 (0)870 444 1700), US importer Eric Solomon. One of the Languedoc's most dependable estates, with a fine, full-bodied 1999 white and a Grande Cuvée red from both 1998 and 1999 that truly belong in the greater world of wine.
Ch l'Hospitalet Grand Hospitalet Rouge 1998 £12.99, *Oddbins. This serious Bordeaux blend from realtor's dream vineyard on La Clape is a Vin de Pays because of its 'foreign' grape varieties. It is exotically luscious, has the imprimatur of Michel Rolland of Pomerol, and heralds a wine to be released in 2003 at a breathtaking £200 a bottle. I suppose it will make certain people take notice of the Languedoc at last.
* Please note that these small parcels will not be in every store, but may be ordered from any Oddbins so long as stocks last.
Some hardworking US importers of Languedoc Roussillon wines:
- Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC (+1 202 832 9083)
- Patrick Le Sec Sélections from Classic Wine Imports, Boston, MA (+1 617-469 5799)
- Fine Vines, Melrose Park, ILL (+1 708 343 5901)
- Stacole Fine Wines, Boca Raton, FL (+1 561 998 002)
- Kermit Lynch, Berkeley, CA (+1 510 524 1524)
- Eric Solomon, European Cellars, New York, NY (+1 212 924 4949)
- Wygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA (+1 610 486 0800)