A wine trade professional since 1986, Englishman Tim Smith has been lucky enough to taste many of the great wines of the world in a much-travelled career that spans over 30 years. Since 1997, he has focussed on the wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon, and has worked for three of the leading producers of the region. Having moved with his wife and three children to Narbonne in the Languedoc in 2003, Tim is now a naturalised French citizen.

What is not to love about the Languedoc-Roussillon? A region bathed in Mediterranean warmth and light, with so many varied and magnificent landscapes, often clothed by carpets of many-hued vines. A region that has not yet been internationalised, nor even – in some senses – nationalised, the spoken accent is strong here, the Occitan language far from dead, and the independent heritage of the Cathars still looms large. Food and drink play a major rôle in the culture of the Languedoc & Roussillon, and that almost always means local food and local wines – both the people who live here and holiday-makers to the region want to drink the wines that are produced here in such a wealth of different styles.

Extending in a vast swathe from the Pyrenees to the Rhône Valley, bordered by the Mediterranean to the South and the Montagne Noire to the North, the Languedoc-Roussillon produces a very wide range of wine styles, from France’s oldest sparkling wine, Crémant de Limoux, through a vast number of reds and some on-trend whites to the sweet fortified Muscats and Vins Doux Naturels of the Hérault and the Roussillon. Rosé and its pale, bastard off-shoot, gris de gris, have also become major players over the last few years.

This very diversity is perhaps – ironically – the biggest difficulty that the region has to surmount, in terms of gaining international recognition. Not only does Bordeaux have millennia of fame behind it, but there is also a simple message – world-class reds made from Cabernet and Merlot, plus a tiny amount of deluxe Sauternes. Burgundy is even more exclusive – Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from exceptional terroirs, where a vigneron can make a healthy living from just a few rows of vines. The Languedoc in contrast is a bewildering patchwork of geology, microclimates and grape varieties, with more than 3,000 producers, their vineyards covering nearly a quarter of a million hectares (Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, with its Nuits St. Georges, Montrachet, Meursault et al totals less than 350 hectares!).

The holiday destination aspect of the Languedoc-Rousillon is not necessarily a happy one for the region’s wine producers either. Firstly there is what one might think of as the retsina factor – tastes great when you’re there, it costs next to nothing, and the sun is shining…..bring some back home to the cloudy West Midlands, however…..Just such a scenario might concern the ultra-trendy Picpoul de Pinet, for example. A crisp, refreshing white that goes extremely well with the local oysters on a terrace sous le soleil, the impact is not so positive when the holiday-maker is back at home under rainy skies, having paid three times the price in his local supermarket. In other words, one tends to be ultra-uncritical when down here – the wine is cheap, the sun out, the mood positive – but much more likely to be disappointed when back at home in Germany, Belgium, Scandinavia, the UK…where the price is raised by import taxes, and the competition from Chile, South Africa, Italy or Spain is more rude.

All of which makes a guide for consumers and professional buyers to the diverse wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon a tool to avoid disappointment. Throw aside the happy memories of a wine you bought in 5 litre jugs at a Euro per litre while on holiday, that is not going to replicate itself in Skegness. But what can be had in cannily-run wine shops from Düsseldorf to Seoul is an interesting selection of great wines at great prices…..if you know what to look for !

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