Taking off from Château l'Hospitalet in the Coteaux du Languedoc and flying over the vineyards of La Clape.

As I've previously mentioned, Gérard Bertrand owns five estates including over 1000 hectares of vines in the Languedoc-Roussillon. That's an awful lot of territory to cover in just a few days so it shouldn't have surprised me to learn that Bertrand keeps a small fleet of helicopters on hand to monitor all of his holdings. We boarded at Bertrand's Château l'Hospitalet in the Coteaux du Languedoc and arrived for lunch in Tautavel about 30 minutes later.

The vineyards of Corbières by helicopter.

Much of our journey took us south of La Clape flying over the sprawling AOC of Corbières. Corbières is one of the largest AOCs in France and is by far the biggest in the Languedoc-Roussillon with nearly 14,000 hectares under vine. Obviously, the AOC of Corbières is much too large and there are huge differences in quality from site to site and producer to producer. It was eye-opening to take in the enormity of Corbières by air.

Landing in Coteaux du Roussillon Tautavel.

 

 

About an hours drive from the Château l'Hospitalet and La Clape is the Bertrand family home named Cigalus. Cigalus is an adapted word for the cigales (cicadas) whose ever-present song accompanies life in the Sud de France. We arrived at the biodynamically-farmed Cigalus to find the kind of wines I had feared would be more visible on our trip: Vin de Pays of international varietals, ripe flavors, and lots of polish from small oak barrels. Fortunately, the main focus at compagnie Gérard Bertrand are the well-made AOC wines like Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape, Tautavel, and Corbières. These AOC wines feature varietals like Carignan and Grenache that have adapted to the Mediterranean climate and best express the region's terroir. Yes, the AOC wines of the Languedoc are "sunshine wines" also, but I'm convinced that Carignan can be a wonderfully expressive wine when planted in rocky soils and at higher elevations. The Cigalus wines have nothing to do with the Languedoc outside of being grown there. These are international Merlots and Chardonnays intended to please the critics. They left me wanting a cold glass of Picpoul de Pinet on this gorgeously warm afternoon and lunching on regional foods like lamb, ratatouille, and Perigord black truffles. I also got a good dose of the Bertrand marketing machine when I asked why they bothered with internationally-styled Cabernet Sauvignon in the heart of Carignan country. Bertrand's managing director spotted me as a trouble maker and diverted the conversation to the Mediterranean lifestyle. He said that the wines were not made for critics and that what they sell is the Mediterranean way of life which includes eating well and drinking well and slowing down to enjoy life in general. I'll drink to that, just make mine a Picpoul.

Gérard Bertrand, the ex-rugby star-turned-wine-mogul, has been buying up various estates around his native Languedoc-Rousillon region for the past two decades to now include a whopping 1000 acres. He's also put together an interesting project with four co-operatives operating in Tautavel just 60 kilometers north of the Spanish border. Tautavel is one of 25 villages allowed to add their name to the greater Côtes du Roussillon Villages appellation. What makes Tautavel unique from it neighboring terroirs is that it sits in an extinct volcano giving its Carignan-based wines a unique mineral note. Our lunch at Bertrand's winemaking facility in Tautavel reflected the Rousillon's Catalonian heritage with fire roasted escargot, paella, and Catalonian spirit. I attacked the snails along with everyone else but quickly got schooled on the right way to eat them. Served with the snails were large containers of allioli, the Catalan version of Provence's aïoli made without egg, and the right thing to do (as I was instructed) is to eat the snail followed by a bite of bread smothered with allioli, followed by a sip of dry Muscat. We started lunch around 1PM and finished with Rivesaltes from botta, cigars, and peaches just after 5. Then it was time to go to dinner.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the Languedoc's outstanding cru of La Clape, this intensly rocky amphitheater lies just 15 kilometers from the Mediterranean. Beth and I walked to the top of La Clape to take it all in with our friend JoLynn Howe from Sopexa. A 180 degree turn from where we were standing revealed the most amazing view of the Sea and gave us a sense of how its proximety dramatically affects the character La Clape's wines. I spoke breifly with Gérard Bertrand about this very special terroir and was surprised to learn that it's Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre and not Carignan that he believes are best adpated to these pure limestone soils and can make La Clape's best wines.

One constant of the Languedoc are the cigales (cicadas). Their song is very much a part of life in the Languedoc, so much so that our driver from Narbonne to La Clape pointed them out to us and said "do you hear that, this is part of our terroir too".

> We're having a good 'ol time here in the south of France. We're off to another Gerard Bertrand estate in just a few minutes, this time his biodynamic Cigulas property in Corbieres. I just thought I'd take a few seconds to tell you about this incredible terroir I'm standing in right now called La Clape (beauty of iPhone + Posterous). I'm actually standing at the peak of this amphitheater-like suntrap and if I do a 180 I have the most amazing view of the Mediterranean just 15 km or so from this spot. I assume M. Bertrand is the largest producer (that's his Chateau l'Hospitalet below) though I've seen a few other roadside signs indicating he's not it's sole producer. This is planted to Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and Carignan but Bertrand doesn't seem too concerned about the grape mix. This is 100 percent limestone, seriously there's no top soil here at all and the terroir screams from these wines. La Clape is technically a communal cru of the Coteaux du Langedoc AOC though i have no idea why it is not not it's own appellation controlee. I'll have a little one-on-one time with Bertrand today so I'll be able to provide more details later but it's my understanding that this area was once detached from the mainland and was just a limestone island in the Mediterranean sea. I believe it. More to come. >

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The Languedoc, what the French call the Midi, begins just west of Provence and arcs around the Mediteranean coast towards the Pyrenees.

We're off for a few days of eating and drinking in the Languedoc. I need to make full-disclosure and tell you that we’re being hosted by the French promotional group Sopexa and by ex-rugby star turned wine mogul Gérard Bertrand. Bertrand’s is a sizable operation (250 hectares) and spread across several Languedoc appellations. I’ve never encountered these wines so I’m not entirely sure what to expect. Jamie Goode gave the wines high marks on his wineanorak site though it sounds like we’re in for some pretty polished stuff.

I’ve been making tasting trips to France almost every year since 2003 but I’ve never been to the Sud de France. I’m psyched to be visiting the Languedoc and to be able to taste these wines in their home environment. The local foods, the people, the way the air smells, all of these things make the wines the way they are.

Part of the weekend’s festivities will include a jazz festival hosted by Bertrand at his Château l’Hospitalet near the cru of La Clape. The show will feature funk legend Maceo Parker. I’ll have more to say about La Clape in the coming days. In the meantime: