Faugères flamboyant: Domaine de Cébène
turns northward to make unique southern wines

May 21, 2010

The two adjacent Languedoc wine appellations of Faugères and St Chinian are similar in size, grape varieties, soil types and styles of wine. Both appellations were even created in the same year–1982. But Faugères has long lived in the shadow of St Chinian; mostly because of the greater notoriety of several St Chinian winemakers. That [...]

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Chai Christine Cannac: A naturally-good wine bar

May 14, 2010

French speakers will immediately catch the play on words in the name of this wine bar in Bédarieux, a small town in the Languedoc-Roussillon’s Hérault department. “Chai” is French for an aboveground structure used for wine storage and aging. The French word “chez,” which has the same pronunciation, refers to someone’s home, or, in a [...]

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The City of Vines and Wine reveals many secrets

May 8, 2010

Located in the heart of the Languedoc vineyards, the Cité de la Vigne et du Vin offers a unique look at viticultural and oenology research being done by France’s INRA agronomical research institute. The magic “Four Seasons Symphony” greenhouse (above and right) allows visitors to discover the various vegetative cycle stages of grapevines. For almost [...]

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Teaching a dog a new trick while hiking in the Pyrenees

April 25, 2010

Our two-and-a-half hour hike up a broad glacial valley had brought us to the limit of our energy reserves. We–myself, my wife, our three young sons, and our family dog, a four-year-old, half-Italian, half-English black Labrador named Enzo—were on our second hike, in as many days, in the Pyrenees. Our base was Luchon, a spa [...]

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A birthday salute to American Founding Father
and Vintner in Chief Thomas Jefferson

April 15, 2010

This being the birthday week of Thomas Jefferson, it’s worth recognizing one of the greatest American wine lovers of all time. Jefferson’s passion for wine began at a young age, and one of the first structures at his famous Monticello estate was a wine cellar. When he arrived in Paris in 1784 as the United [...]

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