Wine, history and
culture of a region off the beaten track
This
wine tour program (6 days) helps introduce you to the wine,
food and culture of the Languedoc-Roussillon
region, as a savvy mix of French, Catalan and Spanish culture,
in Southwest France. The seven-day/six-night trip is designed
to provide a coherent balance of culture, gastronomy and tasting. (see
map below)
Day
1 - Panoramic Tour
Toulouse - Carcassonne - Limoux
The trip starts in Toulouse with a panoramic tour of the city
before heading south towards Carcassonne and its XIIth century
citadel. Wine-tasting at the
Château Pennautier.
Day
2 - History & Regional Specialties
Limoux – Collioure
Limoux, wine centre and home to France’s
first sparkling wine. Visit to the Domaine Sieur d’Arques for
the history of this wine … followed by a tasting. Lunch at hotel
with regional specialties and then drive through spectacular rugged
country with steep-sided gorges, mountain-top castles and windswept
vineyards to Collioure on the Mediterranean coast.
Day
3 - Tasting & Gastronomy
Collioure - Cases de Pene
A day out in the Roussillon vineyards at Cases de Pene, then
lunch at Château
de Jau, before visit and tasting at Mas Lavail.
Day 4 - Visit & Cruise
Collioure - Perpignan
Perpignan, capital of French Catalonia has a chequered history: Visit of the
town in the morning before embarking on a 3-hour cruise out of Collioure in
the afternoon.
Day 5 - Dalí & Special Meal
Collioure - Figueres
The Holy Grail for Dali lovers: guided tour of the Dalí Museum
at Figueres, just over the border in Spain, in the morning.
Gourmet meal at Clos de Pauliles
in the evening.
Day 6 - Modern Art
Collioure - Céret - Toulouse
Departure for the capital of cubism, Céret, to visit
the Mu-seum of Modern Art. Return through deepest Languedoc-Roussillon
for a last dinner in
Toulouse.
end
Price:
from €2300 per person . ENQUIRE
More about the wines and the topography ...
If I told you that France's most exciting vineyards
were to be found in the CDRV then you'd either think I was talking
about a new chain of supermarkets or you'd just nod wisely and
open another bottle of 'Clot de l'Oum'. But more and more wine-lovers
are hearing the stories and finding stray bottles that confirm
the rumours: France has found a terroir where the old rules no
longer apply and new methods can be experimented with.
We
are talking about the "Côtes de Roussillon Villages" appellation
in the southern-most part of France, between the Corbières
and the Spanish border. On the fringes of this official region
there are other smaller, wilder and untamed vine-growing areas
with tongue-twisting names like 'Vins de Pays des Coteaux de
Fenouillèdes' that are attracting interest from wine-makers
from as far afield as Australia and South Africa. In what Wine
writer Jancis Robinson has described as 'spaghetti western terrain'
young wine-makers are experimenting new techniques with old established
grapes like Carignan and Mourvèdre, reducing the yield
to extract concentrated flinty, mineral wines of extraordinary
strength and character.
Also
within the CDRV appellation is the tiny appellation of Maury,
a sweet dark dessert wine, traditionally aged and 'maderisé'
in oak barrels left of the roofs of the farms. Tastes have changed
and the younger vignerons feel free to bend the rules and use
this schist-rich land to produce exceptional reds. Officials
who control French wine appellations appear to be turning a blind
eye, knowing that if France can't innovate and follow world trends
then the New World wines will win out. Perhaps it's due to the
region's heretical past when 13th century religious dissenters
of the Cathar persuasion defied central authority with with their
tenacious movement and held out in mountain-top strongholds against
the power of Rome. These Cathar castles still dominate the Agly
valley at Quéribus and Puilaurens, dramatic witnesses
to past struggles.
Roussillon's wines are not limited to the CDRV however: there
are the 'other' CDR wines in the vast plain north and south of
Perpignan which include some stunning whites (the Muscat Sec)
as well as some very drinkable reds. Towards the coast we find
the mini-appellations of Collioure around the seaside village
of the same name and the sweet white dessert wines of Banyuls.
Chocolate lovers will note that of all the wines in the world
only two are generally recommended to go with any chocolate dish:
Maury and Banyuls.
BOOKING
