Tags: ben darnault, carcassonne, hotel de la cité, jamie oliver, jerome ryon, languedoc, liz o'connell, Ryan O'Connell, visit, wine
English | Ryan O'Connell June 19, 2011 | 
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I’m really pleased about how many winemakers in the Corbieres are sponsoring and attending VinoCamp Languedoc on March 19th, 2011. And after tweeting about the appelation’s enthusiasm, Jamie Goode asked “Which would be your top five corbieres producers for punters to visit?”
I love the question and I think the answer is worth writing up on this blog in more than 140 character and a slightly more searchable format. A big thanks to Jamie for asking.
Keep in mind that these are not the only domaines in the Corbieres. They’re not even my personal top 5 since many of my favorite places are more fun for the engaged wine lover and less fun for your average wine drinker.
This is a list of 5 that are perhaps best-suited for your typical “punter”. British slang which, to me, implies that the visitor is not a wine professional but just a curious person on vacation who enjoys the occasional glass of wine. And if anybody gets offended that I didn’t put them on the list, they can always just email me.
Top 5 Corbieres Producers to Visit
- La Voulte Gasparet, Boutenac – Boutenac is one of the grands crus of the Languedoc now, a special subsection of the larger Corbières. La Voulte Gasparet is a family estate that receives people for tastings with regular opening hours. You can also peek around their barrel room if you ask nicely. While you’re in the area, you might also try to drop by Domaine Fontsainte. These are estates where you’ll taste with the actual winemakers. Some other famous properties in the area like La Forge (one of Gerard Bertrand’s) don’t open the doors to the general public :-ç but you can always try to call and arrange a tasting.Château la Voulte Gasparets
11200 BOUTENAC
(0)4 68 27 07 86
chateaulavoulte@wanadoo.fr
- Chateau Le Bouis, Gruissan – Le Bouis is a gorgeous estate in the northeast of the Corbieres. You can see La Clape from their vines, but they’re still technically Corbieres. They’ve got a restaurant, rooms, and lots of concerts and animations during the summer. Also, proximity to Narbonne and the beach make this an easy destination for people to plan into the itinerary. I don’t know what the winery tour is like since I just get tend to get distracted by the restaurant and beautiful landscapes.Route Bleue
11430 Gruissan
(0)4 68 75 25 25
- Domaine Baillat, Montlaur – This is probably the most authentic independent winemaker on the list. It’s hard to pick just one since the Corbieres has literally hundreds and hundreds of independent producers. But Christian Baillat speaks English, German, French and even Occitan. He’s a quirky, organic producer and he participates with WWOOFing programs that bring kids in from overseas to learn about winemaking. You’d best call ahead.31, avenue de Malbec
11220 Montlaur
(0)4 68 24 08 05
- Castelmaure, Embres & Castelmaure – Since this question was inspired by me fawning over the famous cooperative, I would be remiss not to include them. But this is going to be a gift shop tour. That means you go into a nice room where they hold tastings (and it will be conveniently close to a cash register). If you’ve got a group of 10 or more, you can call and make a reservation to visit the actual winery.4, route des canelles
11360 Embres & Castelmaure
(0)4 68 45 91 83
- Mont Tauch, Tuchan – Another popular cooperative, and another gift shop tour. Again, groups of 10 can call ahead to get a winery tour. There are interactive displays and videos all around the shop, free tastings, and that ever present cash register. The strength of these co-op tours is that they’re unintimidating. You go in and taste. You don’t have to say anything clever as you sip through their wines. If your toddler starts to throw a fit, you can always just leave.Les Vignerons Du Mont Tauch
11350 Tuchan
(0)4 68 45 41 08
Google Map
Not really a producer, but…
- Terra Vinea, Portel – You might be thinking this is more than 5 recommendations. But honestly this last one isn’t a recommendation so much as a mention. Terra Vinea is a tourist destination devoted to wine. I cannot recommend it as I have never been. But here is a promotional video that you can watch. You will quickly determine whether it is the place for you.
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I wanted to do something similar to the post on Languedoc-Roussillon wine producers who blog and the L-R wineries that tweet, by bringing unto you wine producers with facebook pages. It turns out that everybody and their mother is on Facebook.
So this list is much much longer. And it’s actually pretty hard to find people. . . so I’m going to publish it in multiple parts. Here is the first part.
I included wineries, vineyards, negociants, grape growers, etc. Anybody who presents themselves as a producer and could presumably prove it with tax receipts or something.
Please feel free (Obliged even) to email me to add more to this list or leave a comment at the bottom of this page with a link to the facebook page you’d like to add. And while you’re doing me favors, somebody needs to tell Georges Frêche that he can’t abandon his facebook page just because he was re-elected. Obama is still emailing me like DAILY. (edit: RIP Georges Freche, you will no longer be judged for a lack of social media updates)
Wineries and Vineyards with Facebook pages:
Wine producers who have profiles or groups:
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Tags: facebook, facebook page, languedoc, like, roussillon, social media, vineyard, vineyards, vineyards on facebook, vineyards with facebook pages, wine, winemaker, winemakers, winemakers on facebook, winemakers with facebook pages, wineries, wineries on facebook, wineries wth facebook pages, winery
English | Ryan O'Connell July 16, 2010 | Comments (8)
I’m starting to see some of the press coverage of this year’s Ambassador Tour, a classy series of Languedoc wine tastings held in the US each year. The first article I’ve seen, despite its positive outlook on the tasting and Languedoc’s future, made me pause with a claim that AOC Languedoc is specifically bucking the trend to market toward twenty-somethings. The article goes on to claim that the classification is favoring 30- to 45-year-olds, “the youngest demographic group of wine drinkers identified for the controlled origin wines”
This part leaves me a little perplexed. I’m glad we’re targeting 30 somethings which is already a young demographic compared to wine consumption statistics from the 90′s. But why stop there? And why purposefully spread a message that sort of sounds like “our wine is not really meant for people who are just starting”?
Remember when Jay Z got ridiculously mad that Cristal’s producers didn’t fully embrace the rap community‘s affinity for their Champagne? Comments to the press were taken a bit out of context, and customers got very upset. The director of the company that produces Cristal hadn’t said anything explicitly negative, and he still caused a commotion. I think the above article voices a potentially much more direct and damaging point of view that millenials aren’t worth our time.
So let me take the counterpoint: Millenials are totally worth it. Their heads generally haven’t been filled with a priori biases.
I regularly meet people my age who want to drink wine that you can’t find at the supermarket. And I want to insist that any PR folks who read this blog (preaching to the choir?), be careful about spreading this kind of copy. It sort of sounds like we’re wine snobs who don’t serve young adults until they’ve matured a bit.
And I don’t mean to pick on this article too much. It’s very nice and I’m glad it puts the new AOC Languedoc initiatives in a positive light! But I think very young peope who drink wine can sometimes feel intimidated and unwelcomed. And this sort of business philosophy appearing in trade publications like “The Tasting Panel” can sometimes reinforce these unspoken age norms.
Am I over-reacting? Am I doing more harm than good by putting this small trade magazine article in the light of day? Or do you agree with me on some level? Let me know! I am very proud to have readers of all ages. Some too young to drink. Some who don’t let it stop them. ;D And some who can proudly claim they’ve been drinking since before I was born. So let me know if you think the wine business is age-ist. Or if I’m reading a little too much into this stuff.
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Tags: ambassador tour, aoc languedoc, fine wine, languedoc wine, marketing, millenials, the tasting panel, wine, young people, youth
English | Ryan O'Connell June 2, 2010 | Comments (4)
