The Languedoc - By Andrew Jefford (Wine Society newsletter 2008)

(c/o www.AndrewJefford.com)

Stones, wind, silence.

I remember dusk in the Corbières, standing by a road on the way to Embres et Castelmaure, looking out into the geological scrapyard of crags and boulders. The scene was as lonely as Arizona: no car would be through before morning. You could smell the night coming on, though, as the warm air moved down to the sea, freighted with the odour of tough, oily little plants.

I remember a winter visit to Camplazens in La Clape: la bise was blowing across the bare, red lime vineyards so penetratingly it seemed ready to shatter the stones.

And spring in the Minervois, on the way to meet Michel Escande: a sunlit moment, a clearing, light and its dry warmth filling the spaces between each leaf on the broom and the holm oak, the landscape bright with mimosa.

And every time I wondered why this place isn’t producing the most sought-after wines in the world.

Continued... (c/o www.AndrewJefford.com)