© Paul Atkinson / stockadobe.com
Building a
négociant or co-operative wine – has sometimes prevented consumers (and importers) from sampling and appreciating the region’s other, funky side: an evergrowing independent scene comprised of several hundred small-scale or “artisan” winemakers that have flourished over the past 20 to 30 years. Ask almost anyone working in or with the region and they’ll tell you that the two sides of the Languedoc-Roussillon are very much interdependent. Smaller producers may set the tone: exciting enthusiasts with small-batch, terroir-driven wines helping to publicise the diversity on offer in a region still caricatured as monolithic. But the region’s economy cannot hope to survive on concrete-egg-fermented micro-cuvées alone. And fortunately, the Languedoc-Roussillon has some of France’s most adventurous and well-run larger producers, a group who between them produce some of France’s most consistent,
T
and best value, independents-only brands.
hat the Languedoc-Roussillon is an
producing country, accounting for more
enormous vineyard is a commonplace
than a quarter of France’s vinous output.
observation. But statistics about the
That very size is both a blessing and a
When it comes to putting together a Midi list, then, it pays to have representatives from all parts of the Languedoc-
sheer scale of the place can still boggle the
curse for the region’s winemakers. The
Roussillon’s wine-producing community
mind.
Languedoc-Roussillon has always been
and stylistic range. That’s what we’ve tried
the engine of French wine, the workhorse,
to put together here: with RRPs going from
240,000ha planted to vines in a region
blessed with both the scale of production
under £7 to around £30, but superb value
that starts around Nîmes in the east and
and the flexibility of winemaking rules to
running all the way through. And with
stretches along the Med up to the Spanish
be the provider of bargains and a rapid
a greatly reduced 2021 harvest likely to
border. That makes it easily the largest
responder to mass-market fashions.
put pressure on prices in the Languedoc-
There are, according to the OIV, some
wine-producing region in what is (in most years) the world’s second-largest wine-
But that reputation – useful if you’re looking to shift large quantities of cheaper
THE WINE MERCHANT january 2022 60
Roussillon (as it will all over France), now seems like the perfect time to stock up.
