Monday 18 September 2017

Two special vineyards

As well as the vineyards I mentioned in Wines of the Languedoc we visited two special domaines: Abbaye des Monges and Domaine Paul Mas.

Abbaye des Monges is on the main road from Narbonne to Gruissan, it's actually a small hamlet consisting of a manor house, a few domestic houses, an old abbey and three gites. The gites are all in one building that is built into the hill side providing two single bedroom gites downstairs and one three bedroom gite upstairs: accessed by driving round the back giving a totally private area.

In 2002 Nick, myself, my Dad, Michael and Philippa enjoyed two weeks in the large gite; such a lovely place. Abbaye des Monges is owned by Baron Paul de Chefdebien and his wife Marie-Claude; he is a renowned vintner and Marie-Claude an architect. Whilst wine making is the main purpose they also wanted to renovate the ruined abbey. Whilst there in 2002 we were honoured to be invited to a wine tasting with their family where they opened the first bottle of their 2001 wine.

2002 - what a great holiday we had 

The back of the main gite - so relaxing, so peaceful
In 2007 whilst holidaying at Lamalou les Bains Nick, myself, Michael and Philippa re-visited the vineyard. It was so nice to see nothing had changed, it was still a beautiful place set amongst the vines. Unfortunately the Baron had been unwell but was recovering although now having to take things a little easier. Of course we had to bring home some wine although not the 2001 we had originally tasted.

This year we called by again; delighted to find Marie-Claude and Paul still working. She has renovated quite a lot of the abbey, the before and after photos were amazing. The Baron is doing well but still taking life easy. We thoroughly enjoyed a 'degustation' and long chat, reminiscing over past visits and enjoying their very good wine. This year was bought home Chateau Blanc 2015, Chateau Rouge 2014 and Abbaye des Monges Augustine 2014.


Chateau La Clape Blanc is a blend of 60% Bourboulenc, 30% Roussanne, 10% Vermentino, 10% Viognier - a lovely clean crisp citrusy nose with a palate that reflects the same with the added flavour of white peaches. A lovely smooth wine, medium bodied with a lasting finish.

Chateau La Clape Rouge is also a blend; 30% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 30% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre - a nise of red fruits with a hint of spice. Flavour wise this wine is full of blackcurrants, raspberries with a touch of herbiness. A well balanced wine with light tannins leading to a long finish.

Abbaye des Monges Augustine 2014  is a richer, deeper wine having a little more spice; 40% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre. A deeper, richer red with dark fruit, thyme and soft spices, this red has 85% developing in concrete vats and the remaining 15% in barrels. It has a long elegant finish with a touch of toastiness.

It really was a lovely visit; driving up between the vines, meeting Marie-Claude and Paul again, and of course bringing home some of our favourite wine to enjoy.


Abbaye des Monges vines 
Hubby and I have been enjoying many Paul Mas wines from Majestic Wine, we especially enjoy the Cote Mas range. The Domaine stood out amongst the fields of vines, with views of the Etang du Thau, a stunning location.


Domaine Mas' distinctive heron
Best grapes for miles
 Jean-Claude Mas's great grandfather bought the first vineyard in 1892, it's been a family business since. Although we know some of the Domaines labels we were very surprised to see such a large range varying in blends and of course price.

Claude Val is not a name we knew, I must admit I was drawn to the artwork on the bottles. We purchased a red and white, both Sud de France wines. These wines are a blend of several traditional varieties of this area, they offer great flavour at a great price. I'm looking forward to opening these. 

Claude Val 
Paul Mas 1892 is a blend of Carignan, Grenache Noir, Mourvedre and Cabernet Sauvignon.an organic wine made in honour or Jean-Claude's grandfather. It a full bodied, full flavoured red packed with ripe fruit, bringing instant memories of Southern France.   


Since 2005 Arrogant Frog has been the mascot of the domaines. 'The Humble Winemaker' with his sense of humor has taken these wines all over the world. Although Arrogant Frog is available in the UK it was unthinkable to not bring some home. Arogant FrogTutti Frutti is however a blend we have not seen, and a Chardonney-Viognier is a blend I'm keen to try.

Arrogant Frog
As mentioned before Cote Mas is a range we are familiar with, however not Frisante, and especially not a Picpoul de Pinet Frisante. This will be very interesting to open, the citrusy highlights of Picpoul de Pinet in a sparkling wine; perfect maybe with fish and chips...... we'll see.

Sparkling Picpoul de Pinet
We had a great time in the Languedoc as you can see from this and my previous post - after a few nights in Nimes we traveled north to Visan - a village we stayed in last year that nestles in the Cote du Rhone region ...... just a little more wine tasting !!

Wednesday 13 September 2017

Wines of the Languedoc

This year we decided to visit quite a few domaines and caveaux, obviously accepting any degustations offered and undoubtedly buying a 'few' wines. It was such a task ..... not the degustation but deciding which wines to leave behind !!

During our stay in the Languedoc area of Southern France we visited five vineyards. As yet we have not actually opened any of our purchases so my descriptions and notes are a combination of the labels, producers web pages and my memory of our tastings. 

Our first visit, in fact before we checked into our hotel, was Domaine les Yeuses. Situated just outside Meze this domaine was one we had planned to visit as we enjoy their Syrah Les Espices which is available at Majestic Wine.


Syrah Les Espices is made in two parts; 60% is machine picked, 20 days maceration with the skins removed almost immediately; 40% is hand picked, 15 days fermentation and 9 months in oak barrels. 

 A lovely rounded wine with soft tannin, long finish and a delicate hint of spice. At 13.5% it is great with a barbecued beef steak, a Mexican spicy dish or after dinner with blue cheese. 

Merlot Les Grains Noir is picked later than the Syrah, around 15th September. Again it is produced separately; 75% in large vats, 25% in barrels both for 12 months, after this the wine is put together and spends another 3 months in barrels. 

It's a deep fruited wine with a smooth long finish that would accompany any red meat dish, a good one for a traditional Sunday lamb roast. 


I'm not sure if I am a white or red wine drinker, to be honest I enjoy both, it depends on the environment and occasion. As we are drawing into autumn and winter the reds will be dominant but then as spring arrives bringing sun and warmth its a white for me. 


Being in the South of France in degrees hitting 30 it was easy to imagine those summer garden days and so to cover all situations I 'had' to investigate white wine as well as helping Hubby with the reds. 

Domaine Les Yeuses had a very nice Vermentino, not a grape we see here in the UK but as our wine market grows and we look for new wines it may begin to appear on the supermarket shelves.  

Vermentino is picked in the third week of September and after fermentation rest 6 months in large vats. It's light acidity and citrus nose was quite inviting, it was a very refreshing wine with a mouth of grapefruit without being over powering. 

This would be perfect well chilled on a summers day with light nibbles; olives, cheese or salami. 

Travelling around at every turn of the road there is another sign for individual producers, however Hubby and I decided to visit a couple of Co-operatives. Being grape picking season there were plenty of tractors taking a wagon of grapes to the co-operative site to be weighed. One such co-operative caught our eye as we could see the chutes spurting out the grape skins - quite a sight. 


Ormarine is a name we know as we have enjoyed their Picpoul de Pinet from Sainsbury's so we were very pleased to discover their caveau. 

It can be quite daunting when entering the caveaux as there are so many bottles on display but in Ormarine one bottle caught our eye as soon as we stepped inside. 

Cartagene is in a tall thin very distinctive bottle, it's golden colour just shone out. This is in fact a vin de liqueur made by mixing grape spirit with grape juice so no actual fermentation occurs. 

It is similar to Pineau, a liqueur from the Vendee which was a favourite of my Dad's. 



Villemarin Blanc and Villemarin Rouge are wines that reflect the area in which they are grown, the white near the Etang du Thau famous for it's oyster and mussel beds, and the red inland where the terroir begins to rise and fall giving opportunity for the vines to be planted in various directions to absorb the most of the Mediterranean sun.  

Villemarin Blanc is a Grenache Blanc and Terret Bourret blend which is delicate, fine and well balanced with citrus highlights, a perfect match for seafood. 

Villemarin Rouge is a blend of Syrah, Carignan and Grenache Noir. It is well matched with red meats with its deep red fruit and freshness. 




Veyrac is a name we've seen and heard about but have not tired. The village of Villeveyrac is where Ormarine Co-operative is situated so it made sense to try and buy a bottle. 

A Grenache Noir and Syrah blend this wine is deep garnet in colour with the expected fruitiness/spice of this classic blend. There is a hint of chocolate on it's long finish, slightly touched by tannins. 

Haut de Senaux Viognier with its pale yellow colour was full of apricots. Viognier is becoming a popular white wine, this was smooth and rounded with a lovely elegant finish. 

This wine, served chilled, would be a perfect match with fish, chicken, light dishes.


Our final purchase from Ormarine making an easy to transport box of six was a sweeter wine, but not a dessert wine. 

Douceur du Sud is a muscat wine but unusually very very clear and looked very inviting in its blue bottle. 

A nose of light citrus which carried on in its flavour along with light apricots made this a perfect wine for pre-diner drinks. Not overly sweet, not cloying but crisp and refreshing without being acidic. 


Driving through the village of Pomerols we came across another co-operative, Beauvignac. We'd seen this brand on a few of the local restaurant wine lists so decided to investigate. 


Picpoul de Pinet is named from this area and the small hamlet of  Pinet which lies a few kilometres from Pomerols. In recent years this wine has become very popular in the UK especially with mussels. 


As we hadn't yet purchased any Picpoul de Pinet we decided this would be our first choice from Beauvignac. A lovely pale wine with hues of green in it's recognisable long tall bottle.


Picpoul always has the nose of the sea; salt, lemons - it just shouts seafood and with a fresh palate of citrus and minerals it is the perfect match. 


Our two white purchases from the vast array in the caveau were blends; Viognier and Savignon. The Voigner was in a shorter wider bottle whereas the Savignon in a more widely used wine bottle shape.

The Viognier was full of white fruit, peaches, apricots with a delicate mouth and rich finish, whereas the Sauvignon had a crisp citrus flavour with a clean long finish. Sauvignon is my favourite grape and this wine was my favourite in this tasting.

The red wine we purchased had the name 'Vin d'une Nuit' which literally means wine of one night. It's a single grape; Syrah, full of dark fruits, bramble, and spice with a long, slightly tannic finish.



Finally from Beauvignac another blue bottle, Cotes de Thau Moelleux Blanc. A light wine with a touch of sweetness made from Picpoul Blanc and Colomard.

Such a striking wine in it's pale blue bottle, its clearness making the bottle appear see-through.

This was a light delicate wine with many subtle hints of flavour; lemon, tropical fruit, sweetness. This will be resting on our rack until next summer when we'll be enjoying it outside with cheese and olives.

Over time as we enjoy our purchases from the Languedoc I'll add more tasting notes to my blog, on Twitter (@Aimetu) and on Cuvée Reserve (my wine forum). It's hard to know which to enjoy first, dinner choices may be the catalyst in our selection.


We did also visit two other domaines - both quite important to us in differing ways. I'll be adding those to my blog in the next few days - cheers