Languedoc (wine region)

The Languedoc-Roussillon wine region with appellations.

The wine region Languedoc is France's largest growing region of wine . With a planted vineyard area of ​​almost 290,000 hectares (as of 2005), it is almost three times as large as the sum of all German cultivation areas (102,000 hectares in 2005). The Languedoc is located in the Occitania region . The Rhône wine-growing region connects to the northeast . The name Languedoc is derived from Occitan (French: Langue d'oc ); this regional Romance language was the national language before the French era and Languedoc was an old province of the country.

The area of ​​the Languedoc wine-growing region includes the three departments of Aude , Gard and Hérault .

climate

Wine-growing area in Languedoc near Minerve

The vineyards are mostly close to the coastline over a length of almost 240 km. The climate is dry and hot in summer. The precipitation usually comes in the form of heavy showers, so that drought between the months of May and September is one of the greatest problems for viticulture. In some areas of Languedoc, viticulture and olive growing are the only possible uses of agricultural land. Other uses would require extensive irrigation.

The following shows a climate diagram for the Sète measuring station , on the slope of Mont Saint-Clair , at an altitude of 80 meters, 350 meters from the sea.

maritime climate data	J	F.	M.	A.	M.	J	J	A.	S.	O	N	D.
mean maximum temperature	10	11	14th	16	20th	24	27	26th	23	19th	14th	11
mean low temperature	4.5	5	7th	9	13	16	19th	18th	16	13	8th	6th
Number of very sunny days	7th	6th	7th	5	5	7th	13	9	8th	6th	6th	6th
Number of days with an overcast sky	11	9	10	8th	8th	5	3	4th	7th	10	10	11
Number of rainy days	6th	5	6th	5	5	4th	2	4th	4th	7th	5	6th
Rainfall in mm	72	50	62	43	47	40	20th	35	50	110	55	60
Water temperature near the coast	13	12	12	13	15th	17th	22nd	22nd	22nd	19th	17th	15th

While the rainfall at this measuring station is quite high, the rainfall at Barcarès is only 350 mm / year.

Appellations

The quality wine-growing regions (appellations) of the Languedoc

Appellation	Vineyards	amount of white wine produced	amount of red / rose wine produced	amount of sparkling wine produced	amount produced TOTAL
Blanquette de Limoux	? Hectares	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	46500 hectoliters	46500 hectoliters
Blanquette méthode ancestrale	? Hectares	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	5625 hectoliters	5625 hectoliters
Crémant de Limoux	? Hectares	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	22500 hectoliters	22500 hectoliters
Limoux	200 hectares	3000 hectoliters	2625 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	5625 hectoliters
Cabardès	592 hectares	0.00 hectoliters	15,000 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	15,000 hectoliters
Clairette du Languedoc	60 hectares	3600 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	3600 hectoliters
Corbières	13,167 hectares	10,000 hectoliters	451726 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	551726 hectoliters
Coteaux du Languedoc	9673 hectares	62085 hectoliters	325536 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	387621 hectoliters
Faugères	1904 hectares	802 hectoliters	72311 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	73113 hectoliters
Fitou	2595 hectares	0.00 hectoliters	88436 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	88436 hectoliters
Minervois	4297 hectares	3500 hectoliters	162994 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	166494 hectoliters
Minervois-La-Livinière	200 hectares	0.00 hectoliters	6786 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	6786 hectoliters
Malepère	602 hectares	0.00 hectoliters	34,000 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	34,000 hectoliters
Muscat de Lunel	357 hectares	7775 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	7775 hectoliters
Muscat de Frontignan	800 hectares	19582 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	19582 hectoliters
Muscat de Mireval	288 hectares	6694 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	6694 hectoliters
Muscat de Saint-Jean-de-Minervois	188 hectares	5334 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	5334 hectoliters
Picpoul de Pinet	1300 hectares	65,000 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	65,000 hectoliters
Saint-Chinian	3129 hectares	1365 hectoliters	124 129 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	125494 hectoliters
Terrasses du Larzac	400 hectares	0.00 hectoliters	12,000 hectoliters	0.00 hectoliters	12,000 hectoliters

history

Ancient and Middle Ages

The beginning of viticulture in Languedoc cannot be precisely dated based on current knowledge. In the Oppidum Ensérune not far from today's Béziers , numerous vessels and amphorae of Greek origin were found, which prove the presence of the Phocians before the Roman influence. It is believed, however, that the Phocians imported Greek wine to the region and imparted little knowledge of viticulture to the local Celts .

Today's Narbonne was the first Roman colony outside of Italy . It was in what was then Gaul around 118 BC. . AD as Colonia Narbo Martius built. The Via Domitia , originally used purely for military purposes, led through it , the first Roman road in Gaul, the construction of which fell around the time the colony was founded, and which later connected the Italian ancestral lands with the Spanish colonies. At Narbonne, the Via Domitia connected with the Via Aquitania , which led through Toulouse and Bordeaux to the Atlantic Ocean .

The Carthaginian Mago had just about written 28 books on agriculture. The work was translated into Latin by the Senate under the direction of D. Iunius Silanus and from then on served the Romans to export knowledge of Greek agriculture to the Roman colonies.

Viticulture has been historically documented since the beginning of the Roman occupation. The wines quickly became popular because they were of similar quality to imported goods from Italy, but could be purchased more cheaply. Viticulture experienced an upswing from 45 BC. Chr. , As veterans of Legio X Gemina settled at Narbonne. At the time of Tiberius , the northern limit of local viticulture was already at what is now Lyon and from 77 AD onwards, growing competition from the Gallic provinces led to a crisis in Italian viticulture.

In 92, Emperor Domitian finally issued an edict that forbade the Gauls to pursue viticulture. However, the Roman veterans in the colonies outside of Italy were not affected. As a result, numerous vines were cleared. Under the emperors Nerva , Trajan and Hadrian , viticulture was able to recover to a modest extent and the first vineyards were created along the Tarn near Gaillac .

Despite the short reign of the Roman emperor Probus (276–282), in some regions he is now one of the Roman emperors known to laypeople. This comes from a message in the Probus biography of the Historia Augusta , where it says in chapter 18.8:

"Gallis omnibus et Hispanis ac Brittannis hinc permisit, ut vites haberent vinumque conficerent."

"He allowed all Gauls, Spaniards and British to own vines and make wine."

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Languedoc viticulture lost its national importance.

The region received an important lasting impetus when Benedict of Aniane built a monastery near today's Aniane in 782 . The influence of the monks and the monasteries would ultimately remain an important driving force in viticulture until the 18th century.

The University of Montpellier , founded in 1289 , quickly played the role of an engine for the region's viticulture. Arnaldus de Villanova was the first to distill wine spirit and stopped the alcoholic fermentation by adding wine spirit. This process resulted in the sweet wines of the Vins Doux Naturels family, which are often made in Languedoc . Since the professors of the medical department of the university were often personal physicians of the French king, the wine of the area was increasingly used for medicinal purposes at the royal court.

Modern times

The Canal du Midi, which opened on May 24, 1681, opened up new markets for Languedoc, although the wine-growing region of Bordeaux had practically secured a monopoly in the wine trade with England through the so-called privilège du vin . Dutch wine merchants, who imported sweet white wines and spirits , benefited in particular from this situation .

When a devastating frost destroyed almost all of France's vineyards with the exception of the growing areas around the Mediterranean in 1709, the Languedoc was able to benefit from this situation in the short term.

In the years 1729 and 1731, Louis XV forbade the establishment of new vineyards under penalty of fines. However, these regulations were hardly observed in Languedoc and in 1747 the fertilization of vineyards was banned in the region. It was not until the adoption of the Six edicts by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, baron de l'Aulne on March 12, 1776, with the creation of a free trade area in France, that the basis for a flourishing wine trade was laid, and in 1816 the Languedoc produced 15 percent of all French wine. Old white grape varieties were replaced on a large scale by the mass carrier Aramon . In 1871, 214,000 hectares of this variety were collected in the Hérault department alone.

In 1851 the Languedoc was hit by powdery mildew and from 1863 the phylloxera caused great damage. At the same time, the region opened up new sales markets with the construction of the railway lines via Lyon and Bordeaux to the north of France. Because of this, the production volume in the Hérault department rose from 3.9 million hectoliters to over 15.2 million hectoliters between 1850 and 1869. The vineyards were increasingly planted in fertile valleys and the choice of grape varieties was increasingly popular. After the phylloxera, the Languedoc recovered very quickly and the winegrowers also chose French hybrid vines in addition to the classic grape varieties that have since been grafted onto rootstock .

Dr. In 1865, Jules Guyot carried out his study Sur la viticulture du center sud de la France (On Viticulture in Central Southern France ) on behalf of Agriculture Minister Armand Béhic on viticulture in the southern departments and revolutionized viticulture throughout France with his studies. Even then, he warned of overproduction and the consequences, and pointed out the effect of excessively high yields on the quality of the wines.

20th century

Women at a demonstration in Trèbes in the Aude department

The quality of the new grape varieties and the mass carriers was inferior, however, and Algerian wines (→ Viticulture in Algeria ) were used as cover wines to achieve an appealing red color . When there were four large harvests in succession between 1904 and 1907, the wines could no longer be sold due to an oversupply. In 1907 the region saw a plethora of protests between March and June. On June 9th alone, more than 500,000 people demonstrated in Narbonne and the following day 600 mayors resigned to increase pressure on Georges Clemenceau . ( See also: Vintner rebellion in Languedoc .)

As a result of the frustration of many winemakers, many cooperatives were founded. For the time being, the area was limited to the production of inexpensive table wine and could continue to rely on the color-improving wines from North Africa. When Algeria fought for independence from France in 1962, there was a sudden lack of a large volume of cheap wines. However, this deficiency was compensated by the Languedoc region. This resulted in an extreme spread of wine quality in French viticulture. In the 1960s, Bordeaux winegrowing re-established itself among the world's best in terms of quality, by resorting to means such as lowering yields and clonal selection of the best vines. In Languedoc, however, they only served the mass market. This situation should hardly change until the mid-1980s.

In the 1970s, the mass carrier Aramon was slowly replaced by the Carignan variety and since the mid-1980s, increasingly high-quality grape varieties have been planted. However, since these varieties are not allowed in the old regulations of the AOC , the country wine Vins de Pays d'Oc was introduced in 1987, in which mainly wines of internationally recognized varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon , Merlot , Syrah or Chardonnay , Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc were marketed become.

The focus on quality varieties was initiated by, among others, Aimé Guibert, who with his Cabernet Sauvignon- based (70% and higher) Cuvee Mas de Daumas-Gassac Rouge - Vin de Pays de Herault - demonstrated the full potential of the region (1st vintage 1978) . Guibert acquired the old Mas de Daumas Gassac farm near Aniane in 1971. A few months later, the geology professor and specialist in the relationship between soil types and wine quality, Henri Enjalbert, confirmed the unusual quality of the soils of the future winery. Enjalbert was convinced that the earth, which in many areas resembles the soils of the Côte-d'Or, is capable of producing a top-quality wine that can compete with the best from Bordeaux and Burgundy. The decision for Cabernet Sauvignon and against Pinot Noir was made because Guibert was not a great fan of Pinot Noir. As a consultant for the production of his first year, he managed to win over the well-known expert in oenology , Professor Émile Peynaud from Bordeaux. This first vintage was already a great success, the wine was compared with the wines of Château Lafite-Rothschild and Château Latour . This success encouraged other wineries in Languedoc to switch from mass to quality wine varieties and to ignore the regulations of the respective AOC , even if their wine can then only be labeled as country wine.

literature

• Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . Gräfe and Unzer, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7742-0914-6 .
• Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France . Lavoisier, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
• Benoît France: Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Éditions SOLAR, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .
• Alastair Mackenzie: Daumas Gassac-The Birth of a Grand Cru . Seagrave Foulkes, Kingston upon Thames 1995, ISBN 1-898618-01-1 .

Web links

• The wines from Languedoc-Roussillon - France's official website (German)