In Languedoc there are vineyards everywhere. Wherever you go, highly knowledgeable wine-growers with a real love of the land are waiting to welcome you. Let them guide you, a glass in your hand and your eyes wide open, as you take a gourmet trip or a voyage of discovery amongst the vineyards.
In the South of France, vines spread their roots across the region, a vital thread uniting the immense variety of Languedoc’s landscapes: from the wines of the Mediterranean to the Canal du Midi, passing through
the Cœur d’Hérault, in the very heart of the Hérault area, the Grès de Montpellier,
the Cévennes mountains, the Pic-Saint-Loup…
Around Béziers, in this land so rich in human history, the Canal du Midi boosted the wine trade between the 17th and 19th centuries. The vineyards show plenty of evidence of this bygone splendour: the ‘Folies Languedociennes’ are vast dwellings with architectural styles that are never the same and mix façades copied from English manor houses, Italian villas and Renaissance châteaux.
Here, along this crescent of land, is a terroir where the vineyards meet the seashore. Sea breezes moderate changes in temperature and provide a consistent climate. The white wines produced here are
at home by the sea, which is why they go so well with fish and seafood.
Here and there the vineyards have a close acquaintance with places of legend, such as the slopes surrounding the Maguelone Cathedral, that has stood between heaven, earth and the sea since the early middle ages, or the hills overlooking the Étang de Thau, and provide exceptional panoramic views
over this distillation of the Mediterranean Sea.
In the west of Languedoc, in the area bounded by the Canal du Midi, the Montagne Noire and the Haut-Languedoc Natural Park, the landscapes and the wines both have a bolder character. Minervois, Saint-Chinian and Faugères are three designations that have long enjoyed a wider reputation. Here the low, dry-stone walls separate the vineyards into terraces that coil around hillsides, along valleys and fast-flowing rivers.
Whilst, today, Montpellier is the town in France with the largest area of vineyards planted within its boundaries, the designation ‘Grés de Montpellier’ stretches as far as the approaches to the Larzac plateau. Further to the east, around Lunel the low hillsides overlooking the Mediterranean produce
one of the four naturally sweet PDO wines, Muscat de Lunel.
From the Pas de l’Escalette, the foothills of the Larzac plateau, and the Buèges valley, nature, wine-growing villages and historic heritage all play their part in this heart of the Hérault area with its host of treasures. Montpeyroux, Saint-Saturnin and Cabrières are as famous for their wines as Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is for its beauty and historical interest or Salagou Lake for its outdoor leisure activities.
The spectacular landscapes between the Cévennes and Montpellier are crowned with vineyards. In the middle, the Pic St-Loup resembles a gigantic sculpture with steep slopes. It looks as though a giant’s hand had painted each of the patches of land that undulate with the changing contours of the mountain. The garrigues (the stony scrubland, typical of the arid landscapes of Languedoc) with their scent of holm-oak, Aleppo pine, juniper and cistus can be detected in the bouquet of the wines of the Pic Saint-Loup.
