Culture and wine in the Aude - Languedoc
People from the UK (and from Holland, Ireland and Belgium, too) come to live here for diverse reasons. If, as is hoped, you are thinking of buying a house in the Aude or the Ariege other than simply for the climate, and given that you feel there are good cultural reasons for exploring southern France, then you will not be disappointed. For the region offers a variety of cultural experiences that you will not be able to exhaust even in ten years here.
'Culture' is one of those words which is difficult to pin down to a definitive meaning, including as it does language (both spoken and written), music, dance, the visual arts, and also more day-to-day patterns of life - even to the point of how people make their living, pay their taxes, vote in local and national elections. Buried amongst all these fields are legends (yes, the Cathars, amongst others), a quite specific and different language (Occitan), a sometimes almost incomprehensible local accent, folk music and dance, and…wine-making. This year (2007) a swathe of publications has been celebrating the centenary of the 1907 'wine riots', a series of events rooted in the collective memories of the still largely paysan population here ('paysan' simply means 'agricultural worker', not 'peasant', which has derogatory overtones in English). It holds its place in working class folklore much as the Tolpuddle Martyrs do in England, or even the miners of the 1920s General Strike. So the whole wine industry isn't just about pressing grapes and plastic containers. It, too, has its history, its legends and its mythologies, its tensions between anciens et modernes.
If you are already knowledgeable about wines, this section might prove superfluous for you - but we hope not, for there is so much to discover. In the UK, people are used to being able to buy wines from all over the world, and usually of good quality. Such is the competition amongst the wine-producing countries and the retailers themselves, it is now relatively difficult to find a truly awful wine on the shelves in the UK. There is a price to pay, of course, and that price is what you pay for your wines, resulting from heavy taxes and the cost of shipping, etc.
In France, it is different. It is not at all difficult to find a truly awful wine on supermarket shelves (though things are improving rapidly in this respect) and the choice of foreign wines is very limited indeed (which didn't prevent our recently finding a superb South African wine for just over 4 euros a bottle…) Over 90% of wines on the shelves here are French, which is something residents in the UK are not used to in their local supermarket or wine merchant. The 'local chauvinism' extends even to regions within France itself. If you visit a supermarket in the Bordeaux area, you will find a preponderance of Bordeaux wines; in the Loire Valley, Vouvray, Sancerre, Saint-Nicholas-de-Bourgeuil, etc., will dominate. Here, you will see principally wines from the Départements de l'Aude et de l'Hérault, and what a selection there is!
If you are worried about finding one of the aforementiond "truly awful" wines and simply don't know where to start, go for the ones with medals (gold, silver or bronze at the various exhibitions held around France). You will be surprised by the prices for, whereas classified growth Bordeaux or even a modest Burgundy will make serious inroads into your weekly shopping budget, good quality wines from this region can be found for anything between 3 and 10 euros a bottle - and 3 euros a bottle does not automatically mean vinegar: far from it. Now that compares very favourably indeed with average prices in the UK. Government taxes on alcohol are lower in France than in the UK (hence the interesting prices of single malt whiskies in the supermarkets), which is very good news for those of us who accept unquestioningly the learned articles in medical journals telling us that a regular, if moderate, intake of red wine is positively beneficial to the cardiac system.
So the supermarkets, or even small local shops, are a good starting point. They can be daunting at first but the medals tip almost always holds good and it is not difficult to find out basic information about recent vintages (which to avoid and which to seek out and for what reasons). It is reassuring to know that we don't have the wildly fluctuating qualities in the vintages that are so common a feature in Burgundy and Bordeaux. The weather in this part of France is much more reliable and stable than in those areas, thus making the vignerons' life less hazardous. There are variations but rarely is a vintage qualified as 'hopeless'. Even 2003, with its severe heat and drought, failed to prevent good wine-makers from doing a decent job. These wines may not be destined for long ageing but they are full of ripe fruit and often nicely balanced in the short term. 2002 is the nearest recent vintage that we recommend you avoid, but even there some delicious wines were made by conscientious growers.
Perhaps a much more satisfying way of easing your way into the local products is to visit the wineries themselves. In nine years of living here, we have found only one winery where the welcome was less than warm; the rest (and we have visited many) have all been wonderful. Wine-makers simply love to talk about their products. They live the process and some of them will talk for ever on the subject. Don't expect all of them to speak English, though many do; in any case, it is a very good way of improving your own French. First the comprehension, then the speaking yourself. If you want to experience a strand of French culture, then this is a good way to start. There is a property in the Minervois, for example, where it is fatal to mention Australian wines. If you do, you'll be there for ever, listening to all the reasons why the producer believes that the lower range of Australian wines are abominations!
So where to start? Some of you will already be familiar with the area and perhaps with some of its wines. If you are not, then buy one of the many reliable and readable reference books on the area's wines and make a list of those which seem appealing. Then get out the map! The Hachette French wines (available in both English and French) is very useful in that it gives price guidelines as well as telephone numbers. You may well find yourself disagreeing with some of their verdicts (and why not?) but you would be very unlucky indeed to visit a property and not find a single wine that you liked. We have used this book as a basic guide to appellations we did not know previously and our wine-tasting group has had enormous fun from the resulting outings. Rosemary George's book on the wines of South-West France is also excellent, depending on how much you want to learn about the different appellations and their characteristics. Needless to say, there are others that are very good - choose your own. If you can read French, you will find several clear and interesting possibilities on the shelves here.
It would be a good idea to get a picture of the appellations available in this region and their exact locality. Most people will know where Corbières is but how many of you have heard of, let alone visited Cabardès, the Minervois, the Côtes de la Malepère (a very recent full appellation)? And, further to the east, Saint-Chinian or Faugères or Pic Saint Loup? And then there are all those unbelievable sweet wines (red as well as white) of Maury and Rivesaltes. Would you believe that it is possible to find a sparkling wine, made by a man brought up and trained in Champagne, not a million miles from Limoux which is better in quality than many champagnes? Well it is - at 8 euros a bottle… Oh, and I nearly forgot Banyuls, but you really don't want to know about Banyuls.
For the most part, the region produces red wines, although Limoux is rightly well-known for its whites and its sparkling Crémant de Limoux. It is generally too hot for white grapes and the chardonnay only flourishes in parts where the land is higher than average, with consequently cooler average temperatures, as it is around Limoux, for example. So it's largely reds, but what a variety of tastes and styles! Most properties these days are making serious efforts to make quality wines. A mere fifteen years ago, much of the local production was qualified by a minister of agriculture as "de la bibine". This rather pejorative term simply means 'glugging wine'. There's still plenty of that about but you won't find any difficulty avoiding it. You will almost certainly find that the majority of wine-makers produce a Tradition and a Fût de chêne. The first is a red wine that is bottled soon after fermentation and is not designed for long ageing (though some of them age very well indeed up to, say, five years). If you taste a very young (i.e. recently bottled) Tradition, it might taste a little 'green'. They need a few months in bottle to settle down and the level of fruit that you can taste should give an indication of how it will develop. These wines usually cost in the region of 4-6 euros and are really good value for money. The second of these wines, however, belong to a quite different category. You will sometimes see on French labels Elevé en fût de chêne. Now, this does not mean 'elevated on the foot of the dog', as a close friend of mine once memorably suggested. He was reported to the Académie Française and moves are already afoot to have him deported. Takes time, but we'll get there. The average period spent in oak barrels is 12 months. After that, the wine is bottled. It is almost always recommended that you do not drink such wines until at least six months have passed in bottle, and they will not be at their best until 3-5 years. They also represent good value for money and discovering which are your personal favourites is an enjoyable way of getting to know the region.
Planning a day out to these areas needs careful thought. Don't try to taste too many on one day. We find that one property in the morning and one in the afternoon is just about all our taste memory can cope with, given that you will probably taste at least four wines in each property (there is one legendary property near here where you taste 10 wines and leave much later than you anticipated). And don't forget to book in advance somewhere to have a decent local lunch (12 euros each for three courses plus a pichet of wine is the average price) to soak up all that you have consumed and prepare for the afternoon's assault.
If your French is even only survival level, the wine-makers will welcome you. Make an effort to speak French and they will warm to you: don't and they often won't. If you really are worried about the level of your French or about getting started on the voyage of discovery around the wineries of this corner of Paradise, then don't hesitate to ask. We can introduce you to two knowledgeable, English but French-speaking guides to help you plan visits, including choosing local restaurants. Paying for purchases can often be effected by card (including English cards) but do check this out before you visit, as some properties do not yet have the little machine for accepting payment by card. If you have a French bank acount there will be no problem, as cheques are always accepted. And, of course, no one refuses cash.
So your tasting will perhaps need to be careful and thoughtful if the wines tasted are young. Always ask at the property if they have any older vintages you can try. This will give you a good idea of how their wines will develop. If they do not have any older ones (even three or four years old), that might well be a good sign: they've sold all their stock, probably because it was so good! Try to identify three principal elements in the wine: fruit (often plums, blackberries, blackcurrants or other red fruits), acidity (speaks for itself), and tannin (the element which furs up your teeth). A promising wine needs all three but the most important is fruit. Low acidity and/or low tannin do not necessarily indicate a bad wine; simply that it will probably not last very long or develop mature nuances. If the three are clearly there, the chances are that the wine will develop well over five to maybe even ten years. The French tend, all the same, to drink their wines at an earlier stage than the British, and who is to say who is right? There is some basis of truth in the old saying that, where wine is concerned, the French are infanticides and the British necrophiliacs. You pays your money…
As an illustration of this potential problem, we recall a visit to a recommended property in the Faugères appellation some time last year. Our group of eight tasted some reds that were not that impressive: too cold (it was early spring and the wines were held in the cellar where we tasted, not in the house), too young (fairly recently bottled) - just too 'unready', I suppose. The lady serving us was, however, extremely pleasant and helpful so we all bought minimum supplies and beat a retreat. About a month later, faced with the usual major philosophical dilemma of what to open for that evening's meal, I fetched up one of the 'offending' bottles, more in curiosity than expectation. It was delicious. Not just quite good. Delicious. The wine had simply needed a little time to gather itself up after bottling, plus the right temperature. There were some pretty experienced tasters amongst our group, yet no one had been enthusiastic about the wine at the time. Needless to say, a further visit was arranged to rectify the fault. So be careful and be prepared for surprises.
These quality wines are being made by more and more producers in the area and some are even making a 'super cuvée' as direct competition for the more expensive Bordeaux and Burgundy stuff. The oak-aged wines will cost between 7 and 10 euros (still good value for such quality) and the super cuvées anything up to 20 euros (generally pretty good value if you are used to paying £13 a bottle in the UK - some are excellent and as low as 12 euros). It is by virtue of such improved practice that small groups of wine-producers like the Côtes de la Malepère have achieved full appellation status. And yet you don't see any of their wines in UK shops. It has always amazed us that so many of the quality properties visited in this area are never mentioned in the UK wine press. Maybe it's best that way. We don't want all those tourists snapping up the whole production, now do we?
Clearly, there is much more to be said or written on this subject. You will learn much more detail from a reputable book on the wines of the region. But if you are seriously considering buying a property here, remember that your new surroundings can reveal hitherto unexpected treasures from all levels of what we call choose to call 'culture'.
