Thirty years ago Aimé Guibert was the sole pioneer of high-end wines in Languedoc. His wines not only mirrored the region’s terroir – the soil and the climate – but also its culture. Now Guibert and his cuvée wine “Mas de Daumas-Gassac” have long since been joined by others at the top of the table. Between the Camargue and the Pyrenees, the foothills of the Massif Central and the Mediterranean, there are currently 19 different wine-producing regions that have been granted an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (A.O.C.), a certification of controlled origin. Most of them not only produce simple table wines but also high-end wines with specific varietal and terroir profiles.

There is plenty to discover in the area stretching from the Côtes du Rhône region near Avignon down to the Collioure region on the Spanish border. Take, for instance, the small Appellation Lirac flanked by the A9 autoroute. This pocket of land between Tavel, France’s rosé wine region, and the Côtes du Rhône-Villages produces robust and highly expressive, yet elegant and velvety red wines that need not shy from comparison with their considerably more expensive neighbours. But also the red wines from the A.O.C. Costières de Nîmes surrounding the town where denim (“de Nîmes”) fabric was invented in the 19th century are marked by a density and complexity one would otherwise only expect to find in the Bourgogne and the best Rhône districts. Which is hardly surprising: the terroir, a ground of pebbles and clay, is similar to that of the illustrious appellation Châteauneuf du Pape. The best examples are the red wines from Château Mourgues du Gres in Beaucaire: very fruity and fresh, full of character, with considerable potential for ageing – and (still) at a sensationally good price!