Abbaye de Lérins

One set of wines I was sent to taste during my month in the Languedoc seemed quintessentially summery to me, so I am publishing the notes before our European summer fades (and while all our American friends are celebrating Labor Day).

The Abbaye de Lérins is on a beautiful-looking island off Cannes, the Île St-Honorat. Twenty monks live a contemplative life according to the order of St-Benoît there, and one of their major activities is vine growing and winemaking. They have eight hectares of vines in the middle of the island which benefit considerably from marine influence and its definitively...