Languedoc's best wine courses and wine exhibitions

There are many ways to experience and enjoy the wines of Languedoc-Roussillon. While traveling through the region you can visit the many wineries, taste the fruits of the producers’ labours (the French call this a dégustation) and ask questions while you’re at it (see our guide to top Wine Tasting venues of Languedoc-Roussillon.

However, children and teens can get quickly bored, and non-wine drinkers may turn their noses up at the thought of enduring yet another swig and spit session.

Happily, there are other options.

For a first-timer’s guide to wine tasting, bargain-priced bottles and lunch as well, there’s Vinipolis in Florensac; while a family fun day out complete with groovy sound-and-light show can be had at Terra Vinea (an underground destination that’s perfect for rainy days, or escaping the summer heat). Wine buffs who take their tasting more seriously can sign up for classes at Vinécole (located within a beautiful winery with fabulous restaurant to boot); or in the rugged Corbières landscape, Mont Tauch wine coop’s brand new visitor centre gives its guests a feel for Fitou and the other characterful wines produced in this rugged part of the Languedoc. An just outside the popular town of Pézenas, you can attend a 1-day 'Assemblage' at the Domaine de Bourdic, where you'll learn to separate out the smells and tastes of wine and create your own using the juice of different types of grapes.

Read on then for a selection of Languedoc-Roussillon wine-related learning experiences that can be fun for all, teetotalers included.

What is it?

A wine coop, shop and tasting facility with easy-to-use interactive computer screens, helpful staff and family-friendly restaurant.

Where is it?

Florensac, in the Hérault département, near Pézenas.

Tell me more…

With all the waffle talked about wine, it’s refreshing to get back to basics and do some tasting in an unfussy way.

Vinipolis is a non-snobby sort of wine centre that sits alongside the Florensac wine cooperative. Open since summer 2007, the ultra-modern, 900 square metre, two-storey site consists of a large, light and airy wine shop with interactive tasting stations, and a brasserie – le Bistrot d’Alex – which serves well-presented, tasty Mediterranean cuisine made from local ingredients.

Each tasting station has a computer terminal which focuses on a specific wine theme (local but also international whites, rosés and reds, single variety and also blended wines). Visitors work their way through a series of straightforward questions aimed to provide some basic background without intimidating the uninitiated.

Vinipolis’s objective is to make wine more accessible and enjoyable, and it is a great place to learn about the basics of wine, winemaking and grape varieties, and to pick up some hints to impress your friends. It is possible to sample the range of wines made by the Florensac cooperative, and friendly staff are available to guide you. Opening hours are 9 am – 6 pm, Monday – Thursday, with later opening (until 7.30 pm) on Fridays and Saturdays.

Le Bistrot d’Alex serves seafood and shellfish from nearby Agde and the Bassin de Thau, but there’s prime Aveyron meat and poultry for carnivores. The €19 menu gives you three mouth-watering courses and is very good value for money.

Wine from the coop is served by the glass or by the bottle, and sold at very reasonable, cellar door prices – a total bargain compared to many other restaurants who make their profits by the mark-up on the wine.

Through July and August the bistrot opens for lunch seven days a week, and the rest of the year, lunch is served from Tuesday through to Sunday; dinner with live music is served on Friday and Saturday evenings. Call 04 67 77 03 05 for restaurant reservations.

Vinipolis
5 avenue des Vendanges
34510 Florensac

+33 (0)4 67 77 00 20 (no website at the time of writing)

What is it?

A unique school and “centre of excellence” for wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon. Vinécole is run by Master of Wine Matthew Stubbs and offers upmarket, professionally-organised tastings and courses in a rural setting, within a wine domaine.

Where is it?

Within the grounds of Domaine Gayda, in Brugairolles (the middle of the Aude countryside), half an hour’s drive south from Carcassonne.

Tell me more…

Opened in summer 2008, Vinécole is based within Domaine Gayda, surrounded by vineyards and fields of wheat and sunflowers.

It is the brainchild of Matthew Stubbs, a Brit who relocated to Languedoc-Roussillon in 2003. Formerly Head of Wine with UK supermarket chain Safeway, Matthew has twenty years experience in the wine trade and is one of only 264 Masters of Wine (the highest qualification in the wine industry) in the world.

There are courses for everyone, from brief introductory sessions for beginners up to advanced classes for those studying for professional qualifications. Tutored tastings, wine seminars, corporate events and bespoke wine-themed occasions are offered, hosted in a venue with professional teaching and seminar facilities.

Although the school is based within Domaine Gayda, it retains its independence and presents a representative selection of the very best and most noteworthy wines from across the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

The location is attractive, with views of the snow-capped Pyrenees, and the atmosphere is relaxed and convivial (no traditional, old-world wine snobbery here). Participants are actively encouraged to visit the makers of wines they’ve tasted, and a “passport” is given out at the end of each course or tasting, with directions to the producers’ domaines and discount vouchers to use against purchases.

When school is out, visitors can relax by the swimming pool, enjoy a glass or two on the terrace, or treat themselves to a gourmet meal in the on-site restaurant (open to the public, it has a recently extended terrace with vineyard and mountain views).

Prices start from €15 for a quick-fire, half-an-hour introduction to wine-tasting; €25 buys a two-hour “walkaround” tasting, or for €175, there’s a One-day Wine Experience that includes tuition on how to grow grapes, make, age, blend and taste wine, plus a vineyard tour, winery visit, lunch, and a tasting of eight wines.

There are luxury gîtes in the grounds if you want to stay overnight, or the school can recommend local B&B accommodation nearby.

Vinécole
+33 (0)4 68 31 64 14
www.vinecole.com

The Cinema

The Train

The Caves

Exhibits

The Shop

What is it?

A unique underground wine storehouse with shop, restaurant and bar. Family-friendly and very accessible, these cavernous cellars carved out of the rocks house a thousands of barrels and a history of wine “museum”.

Where is it?

In the village of Portels des Corbières, in the Aude département, 11 miles south of Narbonne, near the Mediterranean coast.

Tell me more…

From the outside, it looks like much of a muchness. Some rocky hills, a large carpark and a moderately attractive, pink plaster hotch-potch of recent construction doesn’t exactly ooze charm, but rest assured: there’s more here than meets the eye.

From the visitor centre, ride the tourist train up a short but steep hill and get out at the large door in the rock. This is where the fun starts. What used to be a gypsum mine has been converted into a gigantic storage space in which local wines are carefully aged.

The door opens to reveal a long, wide and gently sloping stairway leading down some eighty metres. Claustrophobics might not fancy this underground descent, but the sheer volume of the space makes it less intimidating than it sounds, and there is alternative access for those who cannot negotiate stairs.

This cool, dark and dramatic entrance is just the start: ahead of you are thirty kilometres of vast, high roofed tunnels which provide refuge from summer heat or an autumnal deluge (not as rare in Languedoc-Roussillon as you might think).

Visitors find themselves in an impressive, cathedral-like structure, leading on to a network of tunnels lined by thousands of barrels (the low, constant temperature is ideal for maturing wine) and a host of olde worlde exhibits that form a museum of Mediterranean wine making and culture.

Fascinating if you love that retro vibe, younger kids are unlikely to give a hoot, but they’ll dig the “son et lumière” light show that kicks in at the bottom of the stairs, just before entering the main body of the mine (tiny tots may well be freaked out when all the lights are turned out and a ghostly-white, disembodied talking head is projected on the cave walls, so be warned).

The guided tour lasts about an hour, and back up at ground level visitors can stock up on well-priced local wines from Sigean, Portel, Peyrac de Mer and Rocbère (all of which can be sampled in the bar).

Open seven days a week (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day),
entrance costs €7,50 for adults (€3,50 for children under 10).
Terra Vinea
Portel des Corbières
+33 (0)4 68 48 28 05
www.terra-vinea.com

What is it?

Mont Tauch is a leading Languedoc-Roussillon wine cooperative which produces over 98 per cent of all the Fitou wine sold in the UK; from September 2008 it will have an impressive new visitor centre complete with a shop selling local produce, wine and related accessories, tourist information, interactive displays and a children’s area.

Where is it?

Nestled at the foot of the 900-metre peak from which it takes its name, Mont Tauch is situated in the small village of Tuchan, northwest of Perpignan. It is in the heart of the Corbières, a dramatic landscape of rocky garrigue that is home to wild boar, buffeted by the Tramontane wind, and scented with wild thyme, rosemary, lavender and juniper.

Tell me more…

What sets Mont Tauch apart is its distinctively different approach. In contrast to the traditional cooperative principle, by which viticulteurs were paid on the quantity of grapes produced, with everyone paid on the same basis, Mont Tauch’s members can choose to be paid on the quality of their grapes and the wines subsequently produced, according to a strictly regulated “payment by results” scheme introduced in 1998.

Visitors to Mont Tauch will be struck by the contrast of old and new. You are greeted by some rather lovely, old-fashioned office buildings that house the coop shop, but hidden behind these traditional structures are state-of-the-art winery facilities, housed within modern buildings flanked by gleaming silver vats.

From September 2008 the coop shop will be transformed into a fully-fledged visitor centre able to welcome groups of up to 50 people, from Monday to Saturday, bank holidays included.

Dedicated areas will showcase the various ranges produced at Mont Tauch, and some 96 different wines will be presented and available to buy, along with local produce and wine accessories (a great place then to bag souvenirs for your wine-buff mates back home).

Tourist information about the surrounding area will be provided, and a children’s activity area will keep the kids happy while you shop for your favourite tipple, browse the interactive multimedia displays or watch the film featuring the inhabitants of the four villages that make up the Mont Tauch area (tours of the winery and vineyards can be arranged by request).

Les Vignerons Du Mont Tauch
11350 Tuchan

+33 (0)4 68 45 41 08
www.mont-tauch.com