Email trouble – Please resend your mails

Hey, everybody. I had some technical issues with GoDaddy’s email server. It feels like that company is going to the dogs. It feels more and more like RyanAir every day. It’s a little cheaper but they try to charge you extra for tons of unnecessary services and it’s just becoming a real hassle.

Anyway, the email problem should be fixed. So if you sent me an email lately and it was returned undelivered, PLEASE RESEND. Thanks!

Changer l’Aude en Vin – Avril 26 2010 à Carcassonne

I just got my invite to this year’s Changer l’Aude en Vin (there is a pun here with the French phrase for turning water into wine). I first saw the flier in Jean Baptiste and Charlotte Sénat’s winery and it’s unsurprising that they’re at the heart of this gathering. Fifteen winemakers are gathering in the Cité de Carcassonne for a cool grassroots tasting. At least I’m guessing it’ll be a little more DIY than your average wine salon. The flyers are printed like punk posters and Sénat has a rebellious vibe. I look forward to seeing what happens.

And if 15 hand-picked Aude winemakers isn’t enough to draw you to the event, the pot has been sweetened this year. They’ve invited 5 organic producers from the Marne to show off some of their Chamagnes. Sénat never misses a pun and redubs the event “Changer l’Aube en Vin”. I’m not really sure why they added Champagne this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just for the pun.

So a Love That Languedoc rarity, we’ll be talking champagne.

On a related note, I really wish I had been able to attend the Treloar art expo opening a couple weeks back. Hopefully a few of my readers had a chance to swing by the event and taste some wine and see some art. I like all the winemaker initiatives going on in the region. Gives me a lot of hope!

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Je viens de recevoir mon invitation “Changer l’Aude en Vin 2010″,  un rassemblement sur la Cité de Carcassonne de 15 vignerons Audois, tous certifiés ou en conversion vers l’Agricutlure Biologique. Une réunion qui devrait attirer beaucoup d’attention.

Cela fait du bien de voir des efforts comme celui-ci initiés et organisés pars les vignerons. Entre “Changer l’Aude en Vin”, l’exposition d’art organisée par le Domaine Treloar plus tôt dans l’année, et d’autres évènements, j’ai de grands espoirs pour les vignerons du Languedoc Roussillon.

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Participating producers from Aude:

Domaine l’Arbousier
AOC Corbières

Clos de l’Anhel
AOC Corbières

Domaine Benjamin Taillandier
AOC Minervois

Mas des Caprices
AOC Fitou

Domaine de Cazaban
AOC Cabardès

Domaine Les Enfants Sauvages (is this in Aude?)
VDP Cotes Catalanes

Domaine Ledogar
AOC Corbières

Domaine Les Hautes Terres
AOC Limoux

Domaine Hegarty Chamans
AOC Minervois

Domaine Jean Baptiste Sénat
AOC Minervois

Vignoble du Loup Blanc
AOC Minervois

Domaine Maxime Magnon
AOC Corbières

Le Mas de Mon Père
AOC Malpère

Chateau Pech Redon
AOC La Clape

Domaine Remi Jalliet
AOC Corbières

Invited producers from Marne:

Champagne Benoit Lahaye
Champagne David Léclapart
Champagne Frison de Marne
Champagne Pierre Gerbais
Champagne Vouette-et-Sorbée

Toques et Clochers Gala with Massimiliano Alajmo – Love That Languedoc Episode 58

This is part of the continued coverage of Toques et Clochers, the Sieur d’Arques auction in Limoux that raises funds to rennovate local churches each year. Thanks to Sud de France Export for inviting me to the event and even getting me a seat at the super exclusive gala dinner. Video at the bottom of the page!

The even lasts a few days. On Saturday, the town whose churchtower is being redone becomes an open air festival. This year, sleepy mountain town Couiza welcomed some 50,000+ visitors through the winding village roads to enjoy several thousand liters of Chardonnay. It’s really surreal to see these little villages roped off (traffic is rerouted to go around the village and you can only access it by buses from other neighboring towns) and flooded by sooo many festive spirits.

It’s the kind of event that defies logic. And the fact that it’s organized in a different village each year means they have to redo all the logistics from scratch. Nothing is the same year to year. A very impressive event on a scale that independent producers like me could never accomplish even if united.

But the moment that defines the event is the auction on Sunday where bidders will raise their paddles and buy up limited runs of wine in barrel. There’s a big tasting so that everybody can pick their favorite barrels of wine for the vintage. Then there’s a long auction where 80 lots are sold and people bid on wine. Some are there just to support the event and the rennovation. Others are shrewdly trying to grab the best deals because there are some real pearls that you can uncover in the tasting. So the most devoted tasters who spend all morning researching will have an opportunity to buy barrels that the casual visitors didn’t discover. The average barrel price was 4,500 Euro or so this year. The highest bid was about 6,400 Euro, as I recall.

And then we celebrate with a massive dinner. As the French are wont to do.

This video is a presentation of the dishes, the wine pairings, and a musical accompaniment for each course. Nice. In English and French since this is a very International crowd. Only a few hundred people get to attend the gala and it’s a pleasure to bring you behind closed doors to see all the yummy treats and wines and dancing clowns(?!) that bring this event to a close so delightfully.

Who is Ryan O’Connell

Ryan O’Connell, host of Love That Languedoc, is a winemaker in the south of France.

Ryan is a self-professed ascended fanboy who has been making wine since he was nineteen.  He has won the recognition of the Guide Hachette, Revue du Vin de France, Bettane et Desseauve, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wall Street Journal: Europe, and JancisRobinson.com.

In 2009, Ryan founded Love That Languedoc, a website devoted to talking about the region he lives in and the  producers who influence his work.  He has interviewed legendary winemakers like Aime Guibert of Mas de Daumas Gassac and Claude Gros who has made many of the region’s most prestigious cult wines like La Negly, La Peira, and more. Whether he’s pigging out at a Michelin-starred restaurant or attending an exclusive trade show, Ryan’s goal is to capture the spirit of the region and serve it up to his friends online.

In 2010, Ryan started a campaign to train other winemakers and agricultural producers to use web tools that work for his winery. A champion of rural web technology, Ryan believes that agriculture and other rural businesses need to have their own personalized approach to web marketing.

Ryan is proud to live in the Languedoc and to have the support of so many great individuals and institutions in this part of the world.

If you want to get in touch with Ryan, it’s as easy as sending him an email or reaching out on sites like Twitter and Facebook.  He’s happy to hear from you.