un petit séjour à la cote d'azur

Sunday was another epically gorgeous summer day here in Cleveland. I really don't know what we've done to deserve such a great summer this year. Regardless, it was the perfect setting for a poolside wine tasting with a good number of the folks from Bonjour Cleveland!, the French language Meet-up group I run.

Exploring the wine regions of France since February, our glasses have traveled nearly everywhere - Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, Champagne, and the Loire. This month the group chose to sample the wines of southern France including Provence, Languedoc, and Roussilon (often considered together with the Languedoc). Hosted by George at his lovely home in the village of Chagrin Falls (quel drôle nom, eh?) we were anything but chagrined by the gorgeous garden, the sunny skies, and the lovely wines of the Côte d'Azur. (Note- technically the Côte d'Azur runs from Italy just into the Provence region... but hey, it sounds nice!)


Spanning the Mediterranean from Spain to Italy, these massive southern wine regions are typically known for their beaches and cuisine. Historically these areas produced high quantities of not such high quality table wine that was drunk throughout France. However, an economic decline lead the producers here to realize that to keep up they would have to flip their business model. With funding assistance from the EU these wines have really come into their own just in the last few decades.

While the AOCs here produce red, white, and rosé, sweet and dry wines, the Vin de Pays concept has fostered a lot of experimentation with not so traditional grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Today these regions produce a third of all French wines, and the region of Languedoc on it's own produces more wine than the United States on a whole.
Our tasting was comprised of seven wines, but barely skims the surface of styles and varieties. Following are my tasting notes in brief.

2007 Château Gassier Sables d'Azur Rosé - Côtes de Provence: clear, copper/pink, pale; grapefruit, strawberry, cherry, and citrus on the nose; medium- acid, light body, citrus strawberry, somewhere between dry and off-dry. Very refreshing. Blend: Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault.


2008 Hughes Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet - Coteaux du Languedoc: clear, pale, green-yellow; pear, melon, tropical fruit, papaya aromas; dry with medium acid, light body, pear, lemon, green apple.


2007 Verget de Sud Roussanne - Vin de Pays du Vaucluse: medium lemon-yellow, clear; cabbage, tinny, vegetal, asparagus, yellow apple, ginger on the nose; dry with medium acid and body, apple, citrus, lemon, herbaceous.


2007 Domaine des Terres Felmet Cinsault - Vin de Pays d'Oc: bright, medium violet-red; earthy, game, cherry, plum, spice, and leather aromas; dry with medium+ acidity, medium body, light tannin, somewhat nondescript flavors.


2007 Domaine du Poujol Proteus - Vin de Pays de l'Herault: soft ruby with a little blue and stained tears; cedar, cherry, spice, and red fruit aromas; dry with medium acid, medium tannin, strawberry, plum, cherry, and vanilla flavors. Blend: 50% Merlot, 30% Carignan, 10% Cinsault, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.


2005 Domaine d'Aupilhac Montpeyroux - Coteaux du Languedoc: deeply colored bordering between ruby and garnet; aromas of earth, mushroom, leather, anise, tobacco, olive, and black fruit; dry with medium+ tannins and medium acid, flavors of black cherry, spice, vegetal, leather, plum, and blackberry. Blend: 30% Mourvèdre, 28% Carignan, 25% Syrah, 12% Grenache, 5% Cinsault.

Rémi, one of our expat French members, treated us to a Pic Saint Loup - a red made near the Montpeyroux above - as well as some Vin Doux Naturels - a sweet dessert-style wine made from Muscat. Rémi is from the Languedoc region and so was excited to contribute to our tasting. Unfortunatley though I didn't jot down any tasting notes for either, but the Pic Saint Loup was very similar to the Montpeyroux, and overall was the group's favorite wine.

As I said this is just a glimpse of what these huge regions have to offer the wine world. The Languedoc-Roussillon is fondly(?) referred to as France's "wine lake," which may suggest you could spend a lot of time swimming around. Fear not though! As always I fully recommend just charging to your favorite wine retailer and asking for a surprise - regardless as to what you end up with, you're sure to find something amidst the diversity of southern France.

Cheers!