Wine Tourism at the Grenache Symposium – Love that Languedoc

A subject that came up a lot at the Grenache Symposium was oenotourism, or wine tourism.  The idea is that tourism creates potential fans and potential ambassadors of your wine.  If there’s one thing better than somebody who drinks your wine, it’s somebody who gets all their friends to drink your wine too!

So there are two little clips I want to show.

In one clip, Reva K Singh discusses the possibility of creating a capital for Grenache.  By creating a sort of Ground Zero for Grenache, she can motivate her readership in India to travel to that capital with the specific goal of tasting delicious Grenache.

We talked about a lot of different areas that were viable candidates to be the “capital” of Grenache.  While I want to say it’s the Roussillon or Catalunya, I understand that we can’t hog all the glory in the Languedoc-Roussillon.  It might actually make more sense to favor an idea that the Mediterranean is the “capital” of Grenache.  Mediterranean vacations speak to people all over the world as a sort of luxurious vacation spot.  That high-profile can benefit the grape more than just saying the name of one city or one specific appellation like Chateauneuf du Pape.

Maybe this is a place for umbrella brands like Sud de France.  That name is a lot catchier than Languedoc and it encompasses a lot of the Mediterranean wine producing regions.  But then maybe it would alienate our friends in the Priorat and other Grenache producers who don’t consider themselves French.

I wonder if Australians, Americans, South Africa and everybody else producing delicious Grenache far from the Mediterranean would be okay with this idea.

Then Robert Joseph had an interesting bit to say about the lack of well-developed wine tourism in France.  And this hits home.  We really have a responsibility to set up an infrastructure for tourists who want to come to our country and taste wine.  It’s our responsibility!  I might translate this into French, because it will do more good in French than in English.

But anyway, Joseph talks about how French wine tourism is lacking and how we can learn a lot by observing Lafitte’s efforts in China. There’s money and power in tourism.  It could be a major source of income for winemakers in the near future.

Winemakers address the longevitiy of Grenache at Grenache Symposium – Love That Languedoc Episode 62

Here we have one of TWO epic panel of winemakers at the Grenache Symposium held in the Rhone last week. The Q&A can get a little dry at times, but I think some of you will appreciate it. If it gets too technical, feel free to fast forward through the video to see other people talk.

I think the most interesting thing about this footage is that it shows the huge amount of knowledge and detail that went into the Symposium. This was not a fluff-oriented conference. We had a group that truly understands the strengths and challenges facing Grenache grapes around the world. If anything, posting video from the Symposium is making me realize that we need to do a sort of entry-level translation for people who just like wine. More on this to follow.

The people who talk in this video include:
Ray O’Connor, wine writer of the year and my name nemesis, asks “What is the ageability of Grenache as a single varietal and as a blend?”
Randall Grahm, winemaker at Bonny Doon, answers by talking about the hidden power of Grenache
Vincent Avril, of Clos des Papes, gets into some of the details about blended Grenache in Chateauneuf du Pape
Chester Osborn, from d’Arenberg, talks about how Grenache responds to vintages in Australia
Eben Sadie, from Terroir Al Limit Soc. Lda and Sequillo Cellars, talks about making single estate Grenache in Priorat and South Africa and the challenges involved in single varietal Grenache and ripeness
Philippe Cambie, winemaker in Chateauneuf du Pape and around the south of France, talks about the effect of fermenting with stems versus destemming
Hervé Bizeul asks about the proper level of volatile acids in a good grenache and a great grenache
Cambie coyly answers that the good level is the one you have when you finish fermenting, wherever it is.
Tim Atkin asks if there is any place in the world where Grenache should be grown where it is not already grown
Cambie coyly answers “In my garden.”

Birds fly south – Love That Languedoc, Nota Bene

Une migrqtion d’étourneau!

A bonus episode.  A little while ago, I was eating lunch with some folks at the winery and this huge starling migration swept in over the vineyard.  The birds were gorgeous, forming amazingly intricate yet simple sheets of black in the sky above us.  Worth going to full screen:

So ya, I ran outside with my Flip and filmed this big bird migration and it was awesome.  I gasp with delight at one part, but otherwise this is no comment news.  Just appreciate the wildlife as it sweeps across the vineyard on its journey south. I got mud all over my fancy shoes just for y’all.

Visiting Mas Daumas Gassac with Aimé Guibert – Love that Languedoc Ep 18

Thanks for all your patience, Anglophones. I finally edited down the video from my visit with Aime Guibert AND I subtitled it. Some of the subtitles pass by a little bit too quickly, but you can use that pause button to your heart’s content (or watch it a hundred times). I think Aimé is just a fascinating character and I hope the edited down version retains all the charm, humor and tragedy of the original unedited footage of our Daumas Gassac tasting.

You should also note that I take some liberties in the translations. “Ils n’en ont rien à foutre” is somewhere between “They don’t give a shit” and “They don’t give a fuck.” I went with my gut, and my gut was being especially lewd.

Now, our car ride with Aimé was very fun, but we also had a treat waiting for us in the winery where we did a tasting of three Mas Daumas Gassac wines. These are wines that are very hard to taste so young, but very interesting. Over all, I was impressed but I really want to see where the wines go in ten years or so. I guess that’s kind of the magic of Daumas Gassac. Aimé Guibert was one of the first pioneers with the guts to say he could make a vin de pays de l’Herault that was good enough to make people cellar it for at least a decade. Enjoy!

The wines:
Mas Daumas Gassac Rosé Frizant 2008, Mas de Daumas Gassac, Vin de Pays de l’Herault
Mas Daumas Gassac Blanc 2008, Mas de Daumas Gassac, Vin de Pays de l’Herault
Mas Daumas Gassac Rouge 2007, Mas de Daumas Gassac, Vin de Pays de l’Herault

A note on pricing: Gassac is suprisingly affordable if you buy it ahead of time. They make amazing prices for their futures. Whereas, waiting for it to appear in stores, you’ll typically pay upwards of 80 Euros. At the futures prices, you are getting amazing bang for your buck. Another thing… I got some sticker shock from that bubbly rosé at 12€. Not unreasonably priced, but it’s a playful wine and a serious price. Surprised me a tiny bit. But the red and white at the futures prices! Those are awesome.