December in the Languedoc: from cloudy young wines to crystal clarity

How December brings clarity to young wines

IDecember in the Languedoc is a time of softness — misty mornings, quiet vineyards, chilled cellars humming gently. After the intensity of harvest and fermentation, the wines now enter a calmer phase: settling, clarifying, and slowly revealing their character. While the vineyards sleep, the cellar becomes a place of quiet observation. This is where patience matters. And where young wines begin to show who they are becoming.

A month of clarification

The wines made during September and October are now resting in tanks or barrels. During fermentation, millions of yeast cells divided, died, and fell to the bottom of the vessel. Along with grape particles, seeds, and pigments, they form what we call lees — a natural sediment. December is dedicated to decanting the wine off this sediment (already mentioned in my November blog) to help it clarify and protect its flavour.

Clarification matters because it improves purity, prevents off-aromas from decomposing yeast, helps stabilize the wine naturally and reveals early aromatic direction. It’s not flashy work but it’s essential.

Whites & rosés: polishing the bright ones

For many whites and rosés, December is when they start looking more like the wines you’ll drink in a few months: The colours become clearer and more luminous, aromas of citrus, blossom and red berries feel cleaner and more defined.

As fermentation ends, millions of yeast cells die and fall to the bottom of the tank. This creates a layer called lees — an essential part of the next stage. Some white wines will rest on a fine layer of yeast (what we call fine lees) to add a gentle roundness, without losing their freshness.
Fine lees stay suspended longer and can be beneficial to wine texture and aroma.They release mannoproteins (say it if you want to sound geeky), which soften tannins and make the wine feel smoother. It’s the wine equivalent of a spa treatment. Occasionally, winemakers gently stir the lees — a technique called bâtonnage. Bâtonnage is the French term for stirring dead yeast cells, known as "lees," back into wine to add texture, complexity, and flavor. This technique, often used for wines like Chardonnay, helps create a fuller body and can impart creamy or buttery notes

Reds: quiet winter rest

For reds, December is often a time of quiet maturation:. Many have finished their softening phase in November and are now resting in tank or barrel. Tannins slowly knit together, helping the wine feel smoother. Early tasting gives clues about future blends: which barrels bring spice, which bring fruit, which add structure. Tannins, which once felt a bit hard and scratchy, slowly start to integrate. Flavours move from just “fresh fruit” towards something deeper: hints of spice, herbs, and more complex fruit notes.

This is also when winemakers begin early blending thoughts:

• Which barrels bring richness?

• Which ones bring freshness?

• How might they work together in a final cuvée?

It’s a quieter story than harvest, but it’s where balance and harmony start to appear.

Stirring of the lees

‘Bâtonnage’, is the process of stirring settled lees back into wine to add complexity and texture.

From Science to Emotion

Alongside clarity, December is all about protection. Winemakers carefully keep tanks and barrels topped up to prevent oxidation.

Clearing the view: From Haze to Brightness

The wines rest, clarify, and slowly come into focus.

First glimpse of the future

Winemakers taste from tank and barrel to assess aromatic direction, texture balance and ageing potential It’s like tasting a story halfway through its writing. December shapes how the wine will smell, taste, and evolve in bottle.

December is also when winemakers begin early blending thoughts; which barrels and tanks bring richness? Which ones bring freshness and how might they work together in a final cuvée?

Conclusion: winter rest, quiet precision

The vines outside may look asleep, but inside the cellar, December is a month of thoughtful craftsmanship. The wines rest, clarify, and slowly come into focus — and the winemaker becomes more of a guardian than an active creator.

A QUIET wine cellar in december

December feels like the cellar is breathing again - the wines are calm, the barrels rest, the tanks settle. And every step we take is slow, deliberate, and guided by the promise of a new vintage. Next year’s story is quietly taking shape.

November in the Languedoc: Wine in Transformation

November in the Languedoc Cellar: the quiet transformation.

In November, the Languedoc vineyard rests — but inside the cellar, a silent transformation begins. Discover how malolactic fermentation softens acidity, rounds texture, and defines the future character of each wine.

The wines begin to rest, soften, and clarify. The pace slows - this is the moment when the wine begins its true transformation — the one that will define its elegance, its balance, its soul.

What Is Malolactic Fermentation?

The first fermentation (in October) is all about turning sugar into alcohol. The second fermentation — November’s domain — is gentler, slower, almost meditative.
This is malolactic fermentation (MLF), a natural bacterial process that:

• Converts malic acid (sharp, like green apples)

• Into lactic acid (soft, like yogurt or cream)

The effect? A smoother, rounder and more harmonious wine. This is where sharp angles blur. Where tension becomes texture. Where youthful acidity mellows into something long, graceful, and drinkable.

How wine changes in November

❤️ Red Wines: Softening the Core

In red wine, MLF is nearly universal — and essential. Tannins integrate. Harshness disappears. The wine gains shape and weight. Fruit notes deepen into something more complex, more structured, more recognizably “red”. Think of it as the moment the wine stops shouting and begins speaking clearly.

White Wines: A Delicate Decision

🤍 White wines offer the winemaker a choice:

• If we block MLF:
  The wine stays bright, crisp, energetic — ideal for Sauvignon Blanc, Picpoul, and fresh Mediterranean whites.

• If we allow MLF:
  It becomes softer, rounder, creamier — think of the smooth feel of an oaked Chardonnay.

Both styles are beautiful. The question is simply: Which expression will best reveal this year’s vintage?

💗 Rosé Wines: A Gentle Balance

Rosés walk a fine line.
A partial or controlled MLF can add subtle roundness while keeping that refreshing, summery vibrancy.

Too much softness, and the wine loses its lift. Too little, and it feels sharp. November is when we find the sweet spot.

Once MLF finishes, we rack the wine — moving it off its fine lees, leaving clarity and calm behind.

Precision Meets Patience

During November, our work is both technical and sensory: We taste daily looking for softness, roundness, and balance.

From Science to Emotion

Racking: moving wine from one tank or barrel to another helping the wine breathe and clarify.

The first real taste of the vintage

November is the month we begin to truly know the new wines. They’re not finished, not polished, not ready — but they whisper hints of what they will become.

Racking: helping the wine breathe and clarify

Another key November task is racking – moving wine from one tank or barrel to another.

After fermentation, a layer of sediment collects at the bottom of the tank. This is made up of dead yeast cells, grape solids and other tiny particles.. Winemakers carefully siphon or pump the clear wine off this layer, leaving the heavier sediment behind.It also helps the wine smell and taste cleaner, and it’s an early step towards clarity. The wine also gets a gentle introduction to air, which can help young reds open up and lose some of their initial toughness.

Imagine decanting a bottle to let it breathe – racking is a similar idea, but much earlier in the wine’s life and on a much bigger scale.

The wine enters a new phase of its life: the slow, quiet rest of winter.

The first real taste of the vintage

November is the month we begin to truly know the new wines.

They’re not finished, not polished, not ready but they whisper hints of what they will become.

• Reds: pure fruit, youthful tannins, the early shape of structure

• Whites: freshness, texture, and glimpses of balance

• Rosés: delicate fruit and gentle acidity

Every sip is a time capsule of the growing season — the sunlight, the soils, the harvest decisions, and the natural expression of the Languedoc itself.

The beauty of the still cellar

Outside, the vineyard begins to slumber. Inside, the wines rest in silence, transformed from sharp, young juice into something smoother, softer, more complete. November gives wine its grace.

When you taste a silky Languedoc red in a year or two, you’re tasting the quiet work of this moment — the invisible chemistry that shapes texture and elegance.

A wine cellar ready for november

The harvest may be over, but the story of the vintage is still being written in every tank and barrel. November is when wines start to find their voice.

October in the Languedoc: Fermentation and the Chemistry of Flavour

Fermentation in oak barrels

Fermentation: Where Wine Is Born

October in the Languedoc is a quiet kind of magic. The vines that only weeks ago were heavy with fruit now rest, their leaves turning gold and russet under the soft southern light. But step inside the cellar, and it’s a different story — the air is alive with sound, scent, and transformation.

This is the moment when grape juice becomes wine.

The Quiet After Harvest

After the rush of picking, sorting, and pressing, the grapes find their way into tanks or vats — and then nature takes over. Fermentation begins almost immediately, as yeasts — either the native ones that came in on the grape skins or those carefully selected by the winemaker — start to feed on the natural sugars in the juice.

The reaction is simple chemistry but extraordinary in its results:
Sugar + Yeast → Alcohol + Carbon Dioxide + Heat + Aroma Compounds

You can hear it happening: vats fizzing softly, the scent of fruit filling the air, the CO₂ rising in gentle bursts. It’s one of the most thrilling times of year in the winery — alive, unpredictable, and deeply sensory.

Syrah fizzing softly during fermentation in a concrete vat.

Three Paths: Red, White, and Rosé

Each wine follows its own journey during fermentation.

• Red wines ferment together with their skins and pips. This contact extracts deep color, tannins, and complex flavors. The temperature runs warmer — around 25–30°C — encouraging structure and body. Every day, we pump the juice over the skins or gently punch them down to extract just the right amount of color and texture.

• White wines take a cooler, slower route. The juice is separated from the skins before fermentation and kept around 15–18°C. The lower temperature preserves the delicate esters — the compounds responsible for those beautiful floral and citrus aromas. It’s freshness and finesse over power.

• Rosé wines sit right between the two. The juice spends only a few hours on the skins — just long enough to blush — before being drawn off for fermentation. The result? That perfect balance of fruitiness, freshness, and gentle color that defines a southern French rosé.

The Chemistry of Taste

During fermentation, hundreds of aroma compounds are created — fruity esters, spicy aldehydes, and even subtle notes of bread or flowers. These molecules are what make a Syrah smell of violets or a Chardonnay hint at pear and brioche.

Even tiny shifts in yeast strain, temperature, or oxygen can shape the final character of the wine. That’s why October is such a critical month — every decision made now echoes in the glass months (or sometimes years) later.

<— Red wine fermenting

The Winemaker’s Role

Although yeast does the heavy lifting, the winemaker is more conductor than spectator.

Temperature must be controlled — too warm and the yeast might die; too cool and fermentation could stall. Oxygen levels are monitored. We taste constantly, listening to what the wine wants. Some tanks are wild and vigorous, others more restrained. Every ferment has its own personality, its own rhythm. It’s chemistry, yes — but also instinct, timing, and care.

Checking sugar levels & temperature —>

From Science to Emotion

There’s a moment, somewhere halfway through fermentation, when the scent in the cellar changes. The sharp sweetness of juice becomes deeper, more complex — unmistakably wine. You can taste the promise of what’s to come: texture forming, balance emerging, identity taking shape.

<— Sampling fermenting white wine

It’s humbling to watch nature work, guided by human hands but driven by its own quiet power.

The art of pruning.

The reason for pruning and why it is so important.

January and February is pruning time in the South of France. This is a crucial time for vineyard management, as it helps shape the vines for the upcoming growing season. The process involves cutting back the previous year’s growth to encourage healthy new shoots and optimise grape production. It is so important that France has an official certification course just for pruners*. It is the difference between a bountiful harvest and ruining a vine.

* I am a certified vine pruner of the CFAA du Gard de Nîmes-Rodilhan, France.

The most important result of pruning is that it regulates the next season’s yield by controlling the number of buds which produce bunches of grapes. The number of buds retained after winter pruning may be influenced by tradition and/or local controlled appellation regulations.

Although the precise timing is not generally critical, pruning is usually completed by the time of bud break in spring,

In the South of France, there are basically three pruning methods. These are;

• Cane-pruned (Guyot): Each year one or two whole canes are retained and all the rest are cut off completely. The new canes are trimmed to a particular length and fastened to a wire.

• Spur-pruned (Cordon): Once a cane has been in place for a year and produced its shoots, those shoots are trimmed back to leave only two buds. The original cane is then known as an arm (or cordon) and the short little stumps that eventually become spurs.

• Gobelet: They are spur pruned but the arms are shorter and more vertical.

On a personal level, the act of carefully trimming grapevines is a calming and focused activity: being outdoors gives me a sense of connection to the natural world; I see winter gradually become spring amid magnificent landscapes. And pruning requires thoughtful decision-making about which branches to remove, how many buds to keep, creating a sense of purpose and control.

Pruning is generally completed by bud break from mid-March, that glorious time each spring when the vines wake up from their winter dormancy. The vineyards turn from drab brown to vibrant green as those first leaves appear. This can also be a dangerous time for the vines as early spring frosts can harm the tender buds, young shoots and leaves. This can lead to significant crop losses by killing fruitful buds and impacting the quality of the grapes produced.

Near Uzès, in a double cordon vineyard with rows I have pruned and rows to be pruned.

The 'vendanges': grape harvest in the Languedoc

Les ‘vendanges’: grape harvest in the Languedoc

The grape harvest season, known as the ‘vendanges’ in France, marks a crucial phase in winemaking. It is the time when grapes reach their peak ripeness, delivering the perfect balance of sugars, acids, and flavors. This season typically falls between late summer and early fall, depending on the region, maturity, grape variety, and weather conditions. 

The timing of the grape harvest is one of the most important viticulture decisions affecting the winemaking process. 

The winemaker will start sampling grapes from the vineyards several days before harvest to check for sugar levels. When the grapes are perfectly ripe, and weather permitting, he will make the call for harvest to begin. 

Although many vineyards are harvested by hand, mechanised harvesting is commonplace throughout southern France. Machines increase productivity and can run day and night, no matter the weather conditions. A rising trend in recent years, nocturnal harvesting involves picking grapes during the cool night time hours. This helps preserve the grapes' natural acidity and delicate aromas, enhancing the overall quality of the wine.

Hand-harvesting affords more precise selection of grapes and tends to do a better job of protecting their juice from oxidation as a result of damaged skins. Mechanical harvesters allow for a more efficient, often cost-effective, process and are well-suited for large vineyards situated on flat ground.

White grapes are generally harvested first, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Grapes for sparkling wine are harvested early because they need to have lower sugar levels. Red wine grapes are typically next in line, as they take a little longer to reach full maturity. Pinot Noir is an earlier red ripener, followed by Merlot, Syrah, Grenache, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Production of wines of the highest quality requires, in addition to carefully planned grape harvesting, the selection of clusters or berries before further processing takes place. The goal of this selection is to separate unripe, damaged or rotten berries and other undesirable organic material, as well as insects, caught up during harvesting. Sorting gives the winemaker the opportunity to collect for further processing those grape berries that guarantee or enhance the potential to achieve the highest quality of wine.

 What comes next is vinification, but that is for another blog…

Languedoc Wine Classifications

AOP (AOC) & IGP

For the average wine drinker, one of the most confusing things about French wine is knowing the difference between AOP & IGP wines. Most people believe that AOP means top quality and IGP as lower quality.

That is no longer the case.

In 2009 the EU standardized the names of the wine categories across each EU country and for France this meant that AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controllée) became AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protegée). The use of AOC is still allowed and some parts of France have decided to stick with it but Languedoc-Roussillon has moved to the new labelling.

The aim of the AOP was to preserve the traditional and famous wines of France and preserve them for future generations. When you buy an AOP wine it is regulated in terms of where the grapes come from, how they were grown and the grape varieties used to make it. It must also have ‘typicity’, a French word meaning the wine tastes and looks as you would expect it to. For instance, if you buy an AOP Minervois it should taste of a Minervois wine and not a Bordeaux, Corbières or something else.

The AOP classification imposes a quality control system that also includes pruning methods, vine-training, yields, minimum alcohol strength, harvest times as well as delimiting the geographical area where the wine was produced. This area is defined as terroir. Without it, France might have lost some of its ancient and historical wines forever. But It is a protectionist system which inhibits innovation and creativity. It guarantees a process but not quality. An AOP Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine is not necessarily a good one!

In 2009 IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) became the new name for Vins du Pays in France, and in Languedoc-Roussillon that means the wines formerly known as Vins du Pays d’Oc are now called IGP Pays d’Oc. Like AOP, the IGP is a designation used all over France with over 150 in existence. But Languedoc-Roussillon embraced it with fervor and has used it to spearhead a revolution in winemaking to produce some of the best and interesting wines in France.

The success of the old Vins du Pays proved to be a saviour for the region. It was led by a clear marketing campaign that latched onto consumers increasing preference for buying wine by grape variety rather than provenance. In the early days the success was based on what I like to call ‘cheap and cheerful’ - in other words; simple, fruity wines, named after the grape and at a price that most people can afford. But as the brand strengthened and as wine makers adopted it to label their non-conformist wines, it has evolved to include mid-priced and premium wines as well with international reputations.

Whereas AOP limits vine growers to about a dozen of approved varietals, IGP producers have a list of about 80 grape varieties to choose from and can opt to make a mono-varietal wine, a bi-varietal one made from two varieties or a blended wine made from three or more varietals. As you would expect from a warm region, red wine makes up the majority of IGP (and AOP) wines in Languedoc at about 60% of production with rosé and white making up equal shares of about 20% each.

The multitude of different soil types and the permitted use of ‘international’ varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc allows for experimentation and innovation and the result is an extraordinary range of red, white and rosé wines.  But although there is a lot of flexibility when making IGP wines, there are very strict criteria to adhere to especially with regards to where the grapes are grown and the wine is produced. Bottle labelling must state if the wine is regional, departmental or zonal.

Régional IGP wines in Languedoc-Roussillon are called IGP Pays d’Oc. The grapes for these wines can originate from anywhere within both Languedoc-Roussillon, and like in the New World the rules for how wines are made are far less strict to encourage innovation and creativity. These wines are about territory and grape variety rather than the personality of terroir and the art of assemblage. However none of these are ruled out and the wines still retain a ‘Languedoc-Roussillon’ character when grown in the Pays d’Oc. The majority of these wines are single varietal which has helped make this the most successful IGP in France.

There are 4 Departmental IGPs, each carrying the names of the departments where the grapes are grown; IGP Aude, IGP Hérault, IGP Gard and IGP Côtes Catalanes.

Within these Departmental IGPs there are 23 Zonal IGPs: only a small percentage of producers label their wines this way and labelling will accurately pinpoint the areas where the grapes come from and where the wine was produced.

It is amongst these that we find the special wines of the Cévennes and the Pont du Gard…

Biodynamic Wine

What is biodynamic wine?

If you have ever heard a winemaker tell you that he buries cow horns, previously filled with dung, at the beginning of winter and that he plans to dig them up in the spring to spread them in his vineyards, rest assured that you are not crazy, and neither is he! He is simply a biodynamic wine maker, and although chances of him using cow horns are slim these days, he has a more global vision of viticulture which is very different from traditional viticulture.

The concept of biodynamic farming may be familiar to you, but few fully understand it. If you think that biodynamics is something akin to organic farming, you’re half right. While both types of agriculture eschew chemical fertilizers and pesticides, biodynamic farming also incorporates aspects of astrology. Among its central precepts is the idea that hidden elements connect a vineyard with the farmers who care for and cultivate it—and with the wider world and universe.

Biodynamic wine finds its source in a vineyard that has created a sustainable ecosystem.
In biodynamic growing, the vineyards are considered to be a living organism. Biodynamic practices aim to strengthen the unity, balance and resistance of this organism, and thus create harmonious living conditions between the earth, the heavens, the plant and its entire ecosystem. Cultivation focuses on prevention and on enhancing the soil and the vines in their natural environment, as well as creating an equilibrium between pests that are predators and prey.

The use of pesticides and artificial herbicides in the vineyard is absolutely prohibited, and winemakers allow nature do all of the work. For example, sheep may be left to roam throughout the vineyard plots. This not only helps to contain the weeds, it also helps to fertilise the vines. Chickens may also be introduced into the vineyards; they will feed on the bugs as well as help fertilise the soil.

With the climate of southern France ideally suited to organics and biodynamics, it’s no surprise that some producers here are embracing environmentally conscious viticulture.

MAINTAINING A LIVING ENVIRONMENT

There are four different types of days biodynamic farmers need to follow: root days, flower days, fruit days and leaf days. Each of these days has specific tasks that must be completed. Root days are when the pruning should take place, flower days are when it’s best to leave the vineyard alone, fruit days are when it’s best to harvest, and leaf days are when the plants should be watered. That said, in viticulture, pragmatism and flexibility are in order; the weather ultimately defines how and when the above can be applied!

Biodynamic growing creates vines that are naturally more resistant. The vine adapts to its environment and is better able to cope with the stress caused by adverse weather conditions and diseases. The effects of this growing method can be seen in the soil, which becomes loose, dark, rich in life and organic matter. As a result, the soil is better able to combat drought.

Growers must also generate as much fertility as possible on site; biodiversity is most important with the presence of animals, birds and insects to create a healthy, naturally balanced environment. Composting is also crucial, and growers must make use of nine biodynamic “preparations” to help promote soil and plant health. These preparations, made of such ingredients as cow manure, herbs, and chopped-up oak bark, are sprayed onto the vines.

BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity in the vineyard reflects the natural balance of the vineyard environment and its interactions with the fauna (animal life) and flora (plant life) in it.

An established ecosystem contains a community of living things in balance with each other and their environment. The more numerous and genetically diverse these interactions are, the higher the biodiversity and the better buffered and more sustainable a system will be. For example, if a particular species declines due to changing weather conditions, then other species may be available to carry on with essential ecosystem functions.

The Duché d'Uzès

A duchy and a vineyard steeped in history, lying between Pont du Gard and the Cévennes mountains.

Located to the northwest of Nimes, the vineyard stretches from the Pont du Gard, all the way to the foothills of the Cévennes to the west. The area is bordered by the foothills of the Cévennes to the west, the Lussan limestone massif, to the north, while vast limestone plateaus and woodland expand out to the east and south, standing between Nimes, Sommières, and the Rhone Valley.

The wines of the Duché d’Uzès are all blended wines. These powerful wines are made using the great Mediterranean grape varieties: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre for the reds; Viognier, Marssanne, Roussanne for the whites. 



The area enjoys a Mediterranean climate, though slightly gentler due the distance from the coast and the high ground that curbs the maritime influence. The temperature varies more widely than in coastal regions, with significant differences between day and night. The local geology has created a variety of small formations with pockets of sandstone, marl, pebbles, scree, alluvia, hard limestone, etc. These formations are dotted across the landscape, forming the mosaic of soils that are one of the strengths of the Duché d’Uzès vineyard.

Wines of the Delta

The Costières de Nîmes is the key wine-growing zone of Western Europe’s largest river delta.  It’s not Languedoc, and it’s not Provence either.  It’s the Camargue where the Rhône reaches the sea via a multitude of ever-changing mouths, and where, over hundreds of thousands of years has dumped huge terraces and banks of rolled pebbles en route - the same as the famous galets roulés of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

But Is it a different terroir to Châteauneuf?  Certainly.  It’s much closer to the sea, and much more clearly maritime. The sea wind comes in every afternoon in summer and temperatures drop significantly. These ‘maritime entrants’, as they are locally called, always bring moist air as well as cooling breezes. That is something the Mourvèdre loves. The region’s other key variety is Syrah of a fleshy, voluptuous style. And Grenache makes up the trilogy but it is less widely planted here than in Châteauneuf.

Costières de Nîmes encloses the virtually unknown white wine appellation of Clairette de Bellegarde. Created in 1949, the Clairette de Bellegarde appellation was intended to provide distinction between the more usual style of southern French wines and the unique style of Bellegarde's Clairette-based output.

The history of the Clairette de Bellegarde AOC vineyards dates back to the ancient Greeks who planted the vines, and to the Romans who played their part in developing them. Much later, local monastic communities – here the Abbey of St Romain – also had a hand in boosting viticulture in Terre d’Argence. The area is impacted by the presence of a number of inland waterways including the Rhône, the Petit Rhône, a series of streams and brooks, the Canal du Rhône to Sète and the Philippe Lamour canal.

Few people have had the chance to try the white wines of this appellation - probably because of it’s size. Only 7ha of that remain in cultivation today. Its wines are made by 7 winegrowers only, in a cooperative winery and in private cellars.

Wines of the Cévennes.

The Cévennes, the south-eastern corner of the Massif Central, is a hard and beautiful land, but it is also filled with the dazzling light of the warm south and the sense of freedom that always accompanies vast open spaces. If there really is a heaven, then it probably looks like the flower-strewn rocks and meadows of these timeless limestone uplands.

This rugged, mountainous region is a world of lairs and hideaways, that engenders a spirit of independence and rebellion. But it has also been a land of refuge from persecution, particularly for the Huguenots - the French Protestants, during the Wars of Religion who were protected from attack by the hilly terrain.

Primarily cultivated on limestone soil, the vineyards find themselves in a rolling landscape shaped by rivers with fearfully high water levels, where they stand alongside orchards, olive trees, and grains.

The scattered vineyards of the Cévennes are landscape interspersed with chestnut and olive trees, and mountain sides - a far cry from the carpet of grapevines found on Languedoc’s coastal plain. They enjoy a Mediterranean climate that is cooled by altitude and more moderate winds from the northwest. These both provide micro-climates (terroirs) that are wonderfully suited to viticulture. However, the area is prone to rainstorms caused by the collision of winds from the cold north and the warmer Mediterranean, the redoubtable épisodes cévenols, so most vineyards are planted on slopes where there is enough natural drainage to ensure the vines are not swamped or flooded. Here, excellent exposure to sunlight and the prevailing winds help grapes reach optimal ripeness

The winemakers of the Cévennes have a taken full advantage of the French IGP classification for which the Languedoc is famous. Their rebellious and independent spirit has translated into innovation. The micro-climates of the region and the long list of permitted grape varieties in IGP Cévennes wines have allowed them to handcraft extraordinary blends that are unavailable anywhere else in France.

Sunny days followed by cool nights boost the level of balance and finesse; the reds are characterized by their elegance, their aromatic strength, and their tannic structures;  the whites and the rosés are medium to full bodied yet supported by a lovely acidity and fruitiness.