The tradition of wine-making, or viticulture, has been the main economic activity of Languedoc for centuries. The first vines were planted by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and today the region makes up around a third of the total wine production in France.
While the region’s vineyards were once known for being prolific yet of a poorer quality to its famous counterparts in Bordeaux or the Loire Valley, they underwent a massive overhaul in the 20th century to shed this reputation. Old vines were ripped and substituted with more prestigious grape varieties. The five best-known appellations (known as AOC) are Corbières, Faugères, Minervois and Saint-Chinian.
Today the region attracts a growing number of tourists who come to tour the domains and taste its wines. We guide you to the best wine tours in the area, complete with the best places to stay. Santé!
Organized wine tours
Many domains have a small tasting room where you can make impromptu stops to taste and buy bottles directly from the winegrowers. But for a more comprehensive visit – and to make sure you meet an English-speaking winemaker – you ought to book a spot on a wine tour.
Oenotrek
Oenotrek offers a number of workshops centered around viticulture that promise to transform novices into wine connoisseurs. A wine-tasting class will teach you how to taste and talk about a wine’s colour, flavour and smell (€69 [CAD$98]/person). For a sharp sense of smell, do not wear any perfume.
Another workshop presents the difference between the various grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Mourvèdre or Grenache (€69 [CAD$98]/person) and will teach you which one produces a fruity, dry or tannic wine. At the end of it, you’ll combine the different grape varieties and … voila, you’ll have your very own wine to take home.
Montpellier Wine Tours
As the name suggests, Montpellier Wine Tours offers half-day and all-day tours of vineyards around Montpellier. Run by the ever-smiling Carine Ageneau, you can choose from a number of tours. Go for the “Essential Pic Saint-Loup” tour that will uncover the domains lying in the shadow of the famous mountain by the same name (€65 [C$92]/person).
Alternatively, opt for a tour of the Grès de Montpellier chateaux and wine-producing stately homes (€65 [C$80]/person), or the all-day “Pic Saint-Loup wine and olive tour” taking you to a family-owned olive farm as well as two wine estates (€139 [CAD$198]/person – lunch included).
Vinodacqui
Vinodacqui organizes a number of tours depending on your location, with visits departing directly from your hotel in Carcassonne, Béziers, Narbonne and Montpellier. The half-day tours (€60 [C$85]/person) include visits to local producers and tasting sessions of goat’s cheese, olive oil or oysters as well as learning about the vinification process.
Tours can be done on foot or by bicycle and, groups of eight or more, can opt for activity trips, such as kayaking across the Thau Lagoon to reach an oyster farm.
Domaine Massillian
The Domaine Massillan is a small, family-run domain that organizes evenings with live music and art exhibitions on the first Thursday of the month. If you are in the area at the end of September and want to get a taste of the ‘vendange’, or grape harvest, then Domaine Massillan is the perfect place to try it.
On the last day of the year’s harvest, the winery opens its doors to friends, family and curious visitors who come together to hand pick the remaining grapes on the oldest vines in the morning, followed by lunch paired with the wine from previous harvests.
Marseillan
The fishing village of Marseillan is famous for Noilly Prat. A white wine vermouth, it is flavoured with a blend of 20 herbs and spices, such as chamomile and cinnamon, before being aged in casks placed under the sky for 12 months. For a mere €7.50 [CAD$10], you can go on a 45-minute tour, which includes a tasting session and guide to using Noilly Prat in cocktails.
Frontignan
The town of Frontignan, situated by the Mediterranean Sea and the salt lake lagoons, is renowned for its Muscat, a fruity golden-white wine which can be sweet, dry or sparkling. It was one of the first wines in France to receive the AOC mark of quality in 1936.
The tourist office of Frontignan organises guided walking tours of the area which take you up the Massif de la Gardiole, a pine-covered hill overlooking the sea and villages below, before culminating in a Muscat tasting session at a local producer’s domain.
Accommodation among the vines
The Villa Limonade in Olonzac owes its unlikely name to its origins as a lemonade factory. Trained oenologists Jean Marc Jarlot and Stephen Desmazières took over and spent several years renovating and decorating the 19th-century villa before opening it up as a boutique hotel.
Each room has its own quirky style and is named after a lemonade cocktail (rates start at €89 [CAD$127]/double room). Located in the Minervois area, the villa offers wine-themed stays in conjunction with Oenotrek, tasting sessions and visits to vineyards in one- or two-day packages.
The Château Castigno is a boutique hotel situated a stone’s throw from the picturesque village of Assignan. You can book one of the standard rooms (from €100 [C$142]), luxury suites (from €295 [CAD$419]) or even an entire family house overlooking the vineyards.
The hotel offers a number of experiences for its guests. Choose from a midnight picnic among the vines or an herbal walk where Castigno’s chef will take you into the “garrigue” – the typical southern Mediterranean shrubland – to pick aromatic herbs before heading back to the kitchen to prepare botanic infusions.
On the upper end of the scale is the wine-producing Chateau Saint Martin de la Garrigue which lies to the south of Montpellier. A magnificent, 18th-century renaissance castle complete with a vineyard, tennis court, swimming pool and a 10th-century chapel on the estate, it was recently renovated to blend contemporary style and traditional architecture. Prices of rooms are available upon request.
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