Andrew Jeffords and Rosemary George tackled the Herculean task of writing an eight page feature to describe the Languedoc in the March issue of Decanter. A region so diverse and adventuruous is incredibly hard to encapsule in just a few pages, so they focused on giving readers a taste of that diversity. And I think they did a really fantastic job.
Andrew Jeffords explains the pleasure of discovery and adventure in the Languedoc:
“One of the reasons why I wanted to live in this area was discovery. Sure, we could have moved to Dijon and I could have biked down to Vosne every Sunday and worshipped at the walls of Romanée-Conti, saving up for a bottle per decade, but where’s the pleasure in that? Languedoc, by contrast, is a giant funfair complete with eye-popping rides and weird sideshows, flashing lights and duck shoots and test-your-strength bells. Some of its wines are impolite, barely house-trained; others are exciting enough to make your hair stand on end. I love it.”
After Jeffords’ brilliant introduction, Rosemary George digs into the meat of the Languedoc. A blow by blow analysis of Faugeres, La Clape, Terrasses du Larzac, Limoux, Minervois la Liviniere, Cabardes, and Pic Saint Loup (and Pezenas gets its own feature later in the magazine, p 114). Each area description tries to explain what makes it so special and I think she George does a great job creating an image of each appellation. She also gets a couple namedrops in for each area so you can get a feel for some of the movers and shakers.
No ink about me this time, but that’s actually pretty encouraging! This article is about how vibrant and unexpected the region is. And in a way, I’m old news. Since I started Love That Languedoc (years ago!?) dozens of new wineries have started up and dozens of wines have come to new levels of prominence. This region is a vast sea and we’re seeing a rising tide that I hope will change the wine world forever.
The Wine Enthusiast, a leading Amercian wine magazine, recently named their European winery of the year for 2011. And the winery is Gerard Bertrand in the Languedoc Roussillon. I’ve been meaning to write about Gerard Bertrand for a while now, and this might be just the kick in the pants I needed.
The short version
A lot of the visitors to this site are skimming or looking for very specific information (pairing suggestions, tasting notes, etc.) so I have to put this up at the top of the page for the sake of clarity. This post is a story about getting to know Gerard Bertrand. It might get a little long winded, and the subject is complex. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, here’s the short version:
Gerard Bertrand is a complicated cookie. It’s easy to criticize him (his organization is so big that it makes a bigger target), but he’s actually a stand up guy. I had a relatively negative impression of him when I first came to the region, but I have really come around despite my prejudice against big business, economies of scale, and government subsidies. I still don’t know him very well, but I think he’s good people.
Now that’s a super simplified version. I really hope that readers will take a few minutes to read this whole article. Because regions like the Languedoc Roussillon are being shaped every day by a handful of people like Bertrand.
Obviously, it takes the communal work of every grape-grower and winemaker in the region to make the Languedoc Roussillon run. But there are a few point men (and point women) who lead the charge in their own ways and act as poster children for the entire region.
After spending a few hours with Gerard Bertrand, I feel like people don’t give him enough credit for being a good guy. They give him credit for being a keen business man, or a shrewd investor, a good schmoozer, and lots of other things, but I don’t think many people ever tried to convince me that he’s just a nice person.
So that’s what this is about.
Gerard Bertrand’s Reptuation
Here’s the excerpt from the Wine Enthusiast:
European Winery of the Year
Gérard Bertrand, Gérard Bertrand
Both landowner and partner of the best winegrowers in the South of France, Gérard Bertrand manages over 325 hectares of vineyards across varying Languedoc terroirs. He fully understands the movement toward expressive, well-balanced and elegant wines that remain accessible and affordable.
When I first came to the region, this was exactly the kind of award I’d expect Bertrand to receive. Last year, it went to the Portuguese winery responsible for Mateus. And in a three line bio of the man, you mention he’s got over 300 hectares around the region, maybe with a qualifier like “accessible and affordable” (which is sometimes a euphemism for “sells to supermarkets”).
And the first few times I ran into Gerard Bertrand, it was at trade fairs (ViniSud 2009 and LIWF 2010). In both situations the retired rugby legend was wearing a suit (which might have emphasized his height and gaunt frame to make him look more than a little imposing). He seemed a little curt with the people around him. I mistook this for self-importance, and I projected a lot onto the man because of assumptions I tend to make about large scale producers. I was always willing to admit that his wine was solid, but I never really gave the guy a chance.
I visited Cigalus, his flagship biodynamic estate, and enjoyed a Bertrand-guided tour. It was neat hearing him talk about the vineyard and his operations. Here’s a short clip where he talks about long term changes in the wine world and the generational time scale of winemaking:
Hearing him talk about perspective and patience started to convince me that he might be a lot cooler than I originally thought. But at the same time, these kind of tours are often put-on. I wasn’t 100% convinced yet that he was being genuine.
The real Gérard Bertrand
At the jazz fest Bertrand promotes on his primary vineyard, l’Hospitalet, I got to spend more time with him. And I saw a totally different side of the man. He was laid back and in his element. A serious but friendly man who clearly enjoyed sharing a nice moment with the people around him.
The only thing I posted from the jazz fest was a helicopter ride over the Corbieres and Massif de la Clape. Admittedly, that is very bling bling. And it’s very generous of him to fly me around like that. But that is not what I’m referring to when I talk about sharing. At dinner, he had old neighbors around the table, other winemakers, silly American winemake/bloggers, and so on. He wasn’t just automatically fulfilling the functions of a host. He was hanging out with his neighbors. And he was being really nice to everybody. And really honest too. There were some moments of frightening intimacy in the conversation.
There was one point when Gérard talked about the fires that had ravaged the Massif de la Clape in recent years. This is probably worthy of its own post, but I’ll explain briefly that grape vines play an important role in stopping the spread of fires on the Mediterranean coast. Bertrand advocates planting more vines on the Massif de la Clape as a way to limit the destructive fires we saw in 2010. You should have seen the look on his face when he talked about that 2010 fire. He spoke of the smell of burning leather and smoke as he and his friends ran up and down the massif trying to steer the fire away from a nearby village. Okay, this is starting to sound like an Ayn Rand novel. But maybe that’s appropriate.
I don’t know if this post achieved what I want it to. I don’t want to pretend Gerard Bertrand is my hero or that he is going to save the Languedoc. I just wanted to explain how I was skeptical about his character and it turned out he’s nice and seems like he has very good intentions. We actually have a lot in common and I feel pretty bad that it took me several years to get to know him a little. And I’m not important enough to name him European Winery of the Year like the Wine Enthusiast did. But maybe what I can do on this blog is tell you that he’s a stand up guy. I’m happy that he’s one of the point men for the entire region.
Oh boy. So I got to fly over some of my favorite places in the Languedoc in one of Gerard Bertrand’s helicopters. Naturally we started and ended at two of his vineyards: Cigalus in Boutenac Corbieres and L’Hospitalet in La Clape. The journey took me over the northeastern portion of the Corbieres, the etangs (type of marshland) around Bages and Gruissan and the Massif de la Clape.
These are all landmarks that define the department of Aude in the Languedoc. These are some of my favorite places, and it was great to see them from above.
The big thing to take in is that the Languedoc and Aude in particular has a varied terrain with lots of peaks and valleys, plateaus, hills, and so on. These differing reliefs run right up to the coast and provide a wonderful backdrop for planting grapevines. They drain well and they create many different microclimates in close proximity. The Languedoc is a land of diversity!
I also tried to caption a few photos from the ride so that you can be more certain of what you’re seeing when.
The landmarks in the video that people ask about most are the pink rectangles near Gruissan’s beachfront. Those are salins or salt pans where sea salt is harvested from the brine that is left behind after the sun evaporates sea water. The pink color comes from a microalgea called Dunaliella salina. Not all salt pans have this beautiful shade of pink and most fleur de sel I’ve seen in other regions retain a sort of grayish color rather than the pink one.
taking off from cigalus in boutenac corbieres
the garrigue plants resist hot, dry summers in the languedoc
vines beside garrigue in boutenac corbieres
aerial view of garrigue in the corbieres with helicopter shadow
aerial view of garrigue and corbieres mountains
waving goodbye to domaine cigalus and the buses
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
corbieres mountains
vines cover many stretches of the corbieres varied heights
corbieres
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
corbieres mountains near the mediterranean coast
passing over the mountains and approaching the mediterranean coast
crossing the autoroute A9
vines vines vines in the corbieres…we make a lot of wine in the Languedoc
corbieres right up to the coast
corbieres right up to the coast and bages in the side of the frame
Bages in the corbieres in aude
etang de bages et de sigean
bages projects into the etang de bages et de sigean
our crazy pilot
etangs on the mediterranean coast
marshes along the coast
the land gets a bit flatter as you near narbonne
etangs dans l’aude
etangs dans l’aude
etangs dans l’aude
gruissan in aude
Gruissan vines in the south of France
Gruissan in languedoc
Gruissan in languedoc
salt pans of gruissan and their notable pink color
salins de gruissan
from above, the salt pans of gruissan look like pink rectangles
salins de gruissan et leur couleur rose qui marque le fleur de sel
pink rectangular salt pans of gruissan
gruissan is a beautiful beach town
Gruissan is a beach town in the languedoc roussillon
Gruissan is a beach town in aude
Gruissan is a beach town near narbonne
etang du grazel
gruissan
gruissan
gruissan plage
gruissan sand banks
gruissan sand banks near narbonne in aude
nearing the massif de la clape in a helicopter
over le massif de la clape in a helicopter
flying over vineyards on la clape
massif de la clape
massif de la clape
approaching l’hospitalet on massif de la clape in a helicopter
approaching vineyard in a helicopter
trees and garrigue at l’hospitalet on la clape
vineyards in la clape with plateau in background
hospitalet landing pad
hospitalet vines
the shadow of our helicopter on hospitalet vines as we do a the first half of a barrel roll
vines around l’hospitalet
flying over l’hospitalet in La Clape
landing at l’hospitalet on the massif de la clape
Enjoy the pictures and video! I hope you all get a chance to experience the massive beauty of the region one day.
Here is the second half of our tasting at the Chateau de la Negly stand at ViniSud. Again, the main cast is Claude Gros (winemaker), Jeffrey Davies (Signature Selections), Vladimir Volkov (VinoTerra). Make sure to watch the beginning of this Negly tasting which introduces some of these friendly characters!
The sound gets a little low and ViniSud gets a little noisier. I promise to come back and edit this down and add some subtitles eventually. In the meantime, I know a lot of people have been waiting to see this video footage. So for now I’m uploading it unedited as always.
Thanks to those who made this episode possible. Love That Languedoc!
The wines:
Le Pavillon 2008, Domaine de la Boede, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
Les Grès 2007, Domaine de la Boede, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
La Falaise 2007, Château de la Negly, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
l’Ancély 2004, Château de la Negly, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
La Porte du Ciel 2006, Château de la Negly, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
Clos des Truffiers 2006, Château de la Negly, AOC Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape
English | Ryan O'Connell February 2, 2012 | 
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