Tag Archives: Languedoc

Thirsty Thursday: Château La Roque, Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc, France 2010

Posted on February 27, 2014 by waywardwine

Thursday: it is neither Wednesday nor Friday.

For the employed, work still binds your thoughts. A distant weekend glows but faintly. Internet cat porn provides a fleeting, albeit empty distraction

Such a lost weekday deserves a decent drink: something real but not demanding.

Enter Château La Roque. Winter still grips us, so my palate races to the Mediterranean: specifically Pic Saint Loup in the Languedoc:

Vines surround its eponymous mowhawk-mountain, Pic Sanit-Loup. The warm sea and cool plateau inland traps this region in a sort of goldilockian limbo. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged biodynamic, Grenache, herbs de provence, Jack Boutin, Jacques Figuette, Languedoc, Mourvèdre, Pic Saint Loup, Syrah, viticulture | 3 Comments

Festive Fizz: Skip Champagne for Sparkling Wine from Limoux, France for New Year’s

Posted on December 19, 2013 by waywardwine

Holiday parties, like the blob, suck all your time. New Year’s Day, like Dick Clark’s ghost, looms. Appetizers stare at us, like piranha on small plates. We need bubbly.

But we tire of bargain Prosecco. Champagne cost too much to share. American bubbly is either too cheap, or too expensive. Cava works, but seems too familiar.

Enter Limoux:

The Pyrenees Mountains cut France and Spain apart. Their foothills form Limoux: a region just south of the medieval fortress town of Caracassonne. Inland and high up, both Mediterranean warmth and Atlantic cold make Limoux the coolest region this far south in France. Its soil is equally rough: full of rocky, sandstone, limestone, and clay.

Cold temperatures, challenging soil, high elevations: the perfect recipe for quality bubbly. Continue reading →