Languedoc-Roussillon wine
The wine region of Languedoc is France's largest wine growing region. With an area under vines of almost 290,000 hectares ( as of 2005), it is nearly three times as large as the sum of all German regions ( 102,000 hectares in 2005; → Viticulture in Germany ). The Languedoc is the northern part of the region Languedoc -Roussillon. Further to the northeast close to the vineyards of the Rhône. The name derives from the Occitan from Languedoc (French: Langue d' oc); this regional Romance language, the national language and the Languedoc was an old province in the country before the French period.
The area of the Languedoc wine region includes the three departments of Aude, Gard and Hérault.
Climate
The vineyards are mostly close to the shoreline for a distance of almost 240 km. The climate in summer is dry and hot. The precipitates usually come down in the form of heavy downpour, so that drought is between the months of May and September, one of the biggest problems for growing grapes. In some areas of the Languedoc viticulture and the cultivation of olives is the only possible use of agricultural land. Other uses would require a large- scale irrigation.
As a result, you can see a diagram of the air station Sète, on the slope of Mont Saint- Clair, in 80 meters, 350 meters from the sea.
While the rainfall at this station are quite high, the rainfall at Barcarès is only 350 mm / year.
Appellations
History
Antiquity and Middle Ages
The beginning of viticulture in Languedoc can not be dated exactly according to current knowledge. In the settlement Ensérune far from the Béziers today we found numerous vessels and amphorae of Greek origin, demonstrating the presence of the Phocians before the Roman influence. It is believed, however, that the Phocians Greek wine imported into the region and the resident Celts mediated only little knowledge about viticulture.
Today Narbonne was the first Roman colony outside Italy. It was built in what was then Gaul around 118 BC, as Colonia Narbo Martius. Through them led originally purely military purposes Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, the construction of which falls approximately in the founding years of the colony, and later joined the Italian heartland with the Spanish colonies. In Narbonne, the Via Domitia connected to the Via Aquitania, which led to the Atlantic Ocean through Toulouse and Bordeaux.
The Carthaginians Mago had recently written 28 books on agriculture. The work was translated to Senate resolution under the direction of D. Junius Silanus into Latin and served the Romans henceforth to export the knowledge of Greek agriculture in the Roman colonies.
Since the beginning of the Roman occupation of viticulture is historically proven. The wines were quickly popular as they were of similar good quality as the imported goods from Italy, but could be purchased cheaper. An upswing received the wine from the year 45 BC, when veterans of the Legio X Gemina settled in Narbonne. At the time of Tiberius, the northern boundary of the local viticulture was already today at Lyon and from the year 77 AD it was due to the growing competition from the Gallic provinces to a crisis in Italian wine.
In 92 Domitian eventually issued an edict that forbade the Gauls to pursue viticulture. However, did not apply to the Roman veterans in the colonies outside Italy. Subsequently, many vines were cleared. In the emperors Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian, the wine was able to recover modestly and made his first vineyards along the Tarn in Gaillac.
Despite the short reign of the Roman Emperor Probus ( 232-282 ), it belongs in some regions today among the laity known Roman emperors. This is due to a message in the Probus biography of the Historia Augusta, which states in section 18.8:
" Gallis omnibus et Hispanis ac Britt Annis hinc permisit, ut vites have rent vinumque conficerent. "
"He allowed all Gauls, Spaniards and Britons to own vines and make wine. "
With the decline of the Roman Empire the wine of Languedoc lost its national significance.
An important, powerful impulse was given the region, as Benedict of Aniane in the year 782 built a monastery near the present-day Aniane. The influence of the monks and the monasteries should ultimately remain a major driving force of viticulture to the 18th century.
The University of Montpellier was founded in 1289 played the role of an engine for the wine of the region quickly. Arnald of Villanova distilled first from wine to wine spirit and stopped the alcoholic fermentation by the addition of alcohol. By this method, subsequently resulted in the often extended in the Languedoc Wines Vin Doux Naturel of the family. Since the professors of the medical department of the University were often also personal physician to the King of France, the wine of the area has been increasingly used for medicinal purposes in the royal court.
Modern Times
Opened on May 24, 1681 Canal du Midi Languedoc opened up new markets, even though the wine region of Bordeaux by the so-called privilège du vin had virtually secured a monopoly in the wine trade with England. This situation benefited in particular Dutch wine merchants who imported sweet white wines and brandy.
As in 1709, almost with the exception of the regions destroyed the entire vineyards of France around the Mediterranean a devastating frost, the Languedoc was able to draw the short term benefit greatly from this situation.
In the years 1729 and 1731 under Louis XV said the new plant of vineyards under threat of fines. These rules, however, were hardly observed in the Languedoc, and in 1747 the fertilization of vineyards in the region was banned. It was not until the adoption of the Six edicts of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, baron de l' Alder on March 12, 1776 with the creation of a free trade zone in France laid the foundation of a flourishing wine trade and the Languedoc produced in 1816, 15 percent of all French wine. Old white grape varieties were on a large scale replaced by the mass support Aramon. In the year 1871 214.000 hectares were raised with this sort alone in the department of Hérault.
In 1851, the Languedoc was plagued by powdery mildew and from 1863 added the phylloxera great damage to. At the same time, the region opened up new markets through the building of the railway lines over Lyon and Bordeaux in the north of France. Because of the amount of production in the department of Hérault increased 1850-1869 from 3.9 million hectoliters to over 15.2 million hectoliters. The vines have been increasingly applied also in fertile valleys and the varieties were chosen more on mass support. After the phylloxera, the Languedoc recovered quite quickly and the wine growers chose besides the classic grape varieties that have since been grafted onto rootstocks, and French hybrid vines.
Dr. Jules Guyot led in 1865 his study Sur la viticulture du center sud de la France (About the Viticulture Zentralsüdfrankreichs ) on behalf of Agriculture Minister Armand Behiç the vineyard of the southern departments through with his studies and revolutionized viticulture in France. He already warned then against over- production and the consequences of and showed the effect of high income on the quality of the wines.
20th century
However, the quality of new varieties and the mass support was inferior and to achieve an appealing red color Algerian wines were (→ Viticulture in Algeria ) as a deck wines. When it came successively to 4 large harvests in the years 1904-1907, the wine could not be sold as a result of oversupply. In 1907 it came into the region from March to June to a wealth of protests. Alone on June 9, demonstrated more than 500,000 people in Narbonne and the next day were 600 mayors back to increase the pressure on Georges Clemenceau. ( See also: winemakers Rebellion in Languedoc. )
As a result of the disenchantment of many winemakers, many cooperatives were established. Initially, the area was limited to the generation inexpensive table wine and continued to build on the color-improving wines from North Africa. When Algeria won independence from France in 1962, was missing suddenly a large volume of cheap wines. This deficiency was compensated by the Languedoc region. This led to an extreme spread of the quality of wine in the French wine-growing. In the 1960s, the Bordeaux wine-growing established again in the qualitative world leaders by resorted to means such as a yield reduction and clonal selection best vines. In Languedoc, however, they served only the mass market. This situation should not change very much until the mid- 1980s.
In the 1970s, the mass support Aramon was slowly replaced by the variety Carignan and since the mid- 1980s, high-quality varieties are increasingly being planted. Since these varieties are not allowed in the old rules of the AOC, the wine country Vins de Pays d' Oc was introduced in 1987, marketed in the predominantly internationally recognized wine varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah or Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc be.
The grant was initiated to quality varieties, among others, by Aimé Guibert, who based his Cabernet Sauvignon ( 70 % and higher) Mas de Daumas - Gassac Cuvee Rouge - Vin de Pays de Herault - the full potential of the region pointed out ( 1st year 1978). Guibert had purchased the old farm Mas de Daumas Gassac near Aniane 1971. A few months later, he confirmed the geology professor and expert on the relationship between soil types and wine quality Henri Enjalbert the unusual quality of the soil of the future winery. Enjalbert was convinced that the earth, the soil of the Côte- d'Or is similar in many areas, a top wine produce is capable of can compete with the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy. The decision for Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir against fell because Guibert was not a big fan of Pinot Noir. As a consultant for the production of his first year group, it managed to win the well-known expert in oenology, Professor Émile Peynaud from Bordeaux. Even this first vintage was compared a great success, the wine with the wines of Château Lafite -Rothschild and Chateau Latour. This success encouraged other wineries in the Languedoc to switch from mass to quality wines and for ignoring the rules of the respective AOC, even if their wine may then be marked as a land of wine.