Maison Rose-Clair is especially popular with those with a passion for great wine and wonderful food. After a trip here in October, Evan Champion, one of our regular visitors, wrote this diary that sums up all that is joyous about being a gourmand in the Languedoc.
THE LANGUEDOC GOURMET
By Evan Champion
It’s October in the Languedoc: the weather is fine, the grapes are picked, the wine is made, and a kind of sleepiness seems to have descended over the valley. We’re here to eat whatever autumnal treats are on offer – local mushrooms, beautifully runny goat cheeses, ripe tomatoes – and to go with it all, the wines of the surrounding terroir.
We can see vines from the terrace looking northwards: tidy rows of Picpoul de Pinet march in regiments across the brown fields, dressed in their fall colours – all russets and golds, glinting in the golden afternoon sunshine. On our earlier ramble on a trail that passes directly in front of the house, with the temperature reaching a glorious 28 degrees, we covered 10km of trail, winding our way through rolling vineyards in the Coteaux du Languedoc. All around are the grapes that make the distinctively herby, spicy blends of the region: Syrah, Carignan and even some Mourvedre.
On our first evening we drank an excellent St Chinian made by Domaines Rimbal to accompany a huge pan full of spicy chicken, onions, tomatoes and green olives with preserved lemon, all served on top of couscous.
It was a fantastic wine, especially for around 12 Euros, purchased at the wine store just across from the Bezier market. We’d spent a couple of hours buying up all this indoor market had to offer, and finished off with a bit of food with the locals at the café. At market closing time, everyone either crowds in front of the long zinc bar, or they stand at upturned wine barrels, or, like us, they sit at long tables, family style, to drink glasses of wine and simply cooked food. We ate a giant bowl of frites and a large round plate of just sautéed mushrooms, wiped up with crusty bread, and sipped from small glasses of crisp white wine. Delicious!
We don’t normally go in for visiting vineyards, but after seeing the medieval village of St Guilhem les Deserts, we peeled off the road and into Mas de la Seranne, enticed by the sign advertising vin biologique and the rolling vineyards drenched in sun.
A small sign with a telephone number told us not to hesitate to call, as the winemakers, Jean Pierre and Isabelle Venture, were nearby in the fields, and someone would come directly and give us a tasting. True to their word, the kindly and talkative Jean Pierre came over the hill directly on his tractor, shook our hands and led us into a tidy tasting room where we sampled his range, about 8 wines. With a view over his fields at the low mountain range, Jean Pierre explained how he had only recently been able to label his wines as Terrasses du Larzac, the newest sub-appellation of Coteaux du Languedoc. We tasted a crisp white that had a subtle hint of anise and he showed us the various weeds he grows between the wines to deal with pests. We settled on four bottles, only one of which made it back to London in my suitcase, the top of the line Antonin et Louis, named after their grandparents who had both been winemakers in the area.
The bottle of rose sparkling wine we drank that night was absolutely delicious, and at 8 Euros a bottle I’d be tempted to drink one everyday! The very affordable 7 Euro red was light and cherry-scented, and was the perfect accompaniment to our baked dish of chanterelles, leeks and cream. We sopped it up with the best baguette I’ve had outside of Paris, purchased that morning from the town’s little boulangerie.
The wines of this region are undoubtedly bargains. They don’t have the cachet of Loire, the glamour of Bordeaux, or the high prices of the finer Rhone wines; but there is great variety to explore, plus a growing interest amongst a new generation of winemakers to make the most of the local varieties. There is experimentation here, with organic and bio-dynamic grape growing and wine-making practices, and an obvious determination to produce wines that are an expression of the land. What we tasted were wines meant to go with food, with none of the exaggerated alcohol levels that one is seeing in the ‘global’ wine market (consider watching the documentary Mondalvino). We’re looking forward to our next visit, though we’re considering driving from London next time; apparently we’re allowed to bring home 99 bottles of wine, duty free.
See a video of Mas de la Seranne HERE
