Languedoc
France's largest vineyard, rebuilt from bulk wine into its most dynamic region.
For most of the 20th century the Languedoc produced an ocean of cheap wine — much of Europe's "wine lake". From the 1980s, vineyards were pulled up, yields cut, and old-vine Carignan and Grenache on the hillsides rediscovered alongside new plantings of Syrah and Mourvèdre. Together with neighbouring Roussillon, it has more land under vine than any other French region, and it is the country's most experimental: named appellations such as Pic Saint-Loup, Faugères and Minervois sit alongside the flexible Pays d'Oc category, which lets growers make and label single-variety wines. Limoux, in the hills to the southwest, claims one of the oldest sparkling-wine traditions anywhere.
Grapes grown here 8
What the region makes
Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan: dark fruit, wild herbs and warmth.
Single-grape wines, from Merlot to Chardonnay to Viognier.
Blanquette and Crémant de Limoux.
Banyuls and Maury: sweet, fortified Grenache.
Worth knowing
Languedoc-Roussillon has more land under vine than any other French wine region.
Limoux growers point to records of sparkling wine from 1531 — earlier than Champagne's.
"Garrigue" — the wild thyme, rosemary and lavender scrub on the hills — is a tasting note borrowed straight from the landscape.
Try this region if you like sun-warmed, herb-scented reds that punch above their price.
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