The rise of Languedoc Roussillon Wine
France and wine, they go together like peaches and cream don’t they? Before the new world wines broke on to the market, that’s to say South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, California and South America, wine was synonymous with France. And the Languedoc Roussilon region was by far and away the greatest producer of the stuff.
However that is not to say it was the finest producer, quite the opposite. For decades the wines of the Languedoc were seen, quite rightly, as low quality, suitable only for the working class of France. Meanwhile the accolades went to the likes of Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy etc.
Now things have changed considerably. In the same way that foreigners flooded to the region to buy a cheap second home, foreign winemakers have been moving in and buying cheap vineyards. They have often bought new world wine making techniques with them and their more savvy marketing skills. Today Languedoc wine is back on the supermarket shelves and even the wine buffs are starting to take notice of some of these new wines.
And the French wine makers are catching on, having seen these new success stories they are putting aside some of the previous snobbery they had for, all wine practises outside their shores, and are starting to make respectable wines with simple and attractive labels that the masses can get excited about.
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