Vinisud is the second biggest wine show in France. This year it was on February 22-24. 1631 exhibitors were there to present their “Mediterranean” wines. Many came from the Languedoc-Roussillon, the Rhône Valley, Sud-Ouest, Prevence and Corsica but also some other countries are represented. Vinisud is on every second year, the years when Vinexpo is not (which is the biggest show). It is in Montpellier and is one of our favourite wine shows, since we are always on the lookout for new and exciting producers from the south of France. And you can find many of those here. We did discover some gems that we will share with you in future BKWine Breifs.
This was the 9th edition and the total number of visitors reached 32 269 (about the same as last time in 2008). 27% came from outside of France (but curiously few were Anglo-Saxon journalists or from Scandinavia). Daytime at the fair was busy and at night in town was not calmer. Many exhibitors (and some non-exhibitors) organised musical evenings, tastings etc. We went to the crazy jazz evening organised by Les Vinifilles, 18 women winemakers in Languedoc-Roussillon: Rives-Blanques, Jasse-Castel, Coupe-Rose, La Grange de Quatre Sous, Mas Champart, Domaine Ollier Taillefer to mention a few. We also went to the magnificent museum to meet with WoW, Worldwide Original Winemakers, 15 producers from all over the globe: Champagne Tarlant, Domaine du Grand Cros in Provence, Domaine du Tracot in Beaujolais, Pares Balta in Catalonia and Val di Toro in Maremma in Tuscan were among those we talked to.
We at BKWine had been asked by the organisers of Vinisud to do a wine tasting of organic wines from the south of France specifically for visitors from Scandinavia. It turned out to be a very interesting overview of some 30 different “vins biologiques”. A big thank you to all producers who contributed wines to the tasting:
Languedoc
-- Domaine Prés-Lasses, Vin de Pays de Côtes de Murviel
-- Château des Estanilles, Faugères
-- Domaine de Cébène, Faugères
-- François Lurton (with the range Terra Sana)
-- Domaine Valambelle, Faugères
-- La Borie Fouisseau, Faugères
-- Mas Consience, Terroir de Larzac
-- Château Malavieille
-- Domaine des Aurelles
-- Domaine Alain Chabanon
-- Mas Gabriel
-- Domaine Turner Pageot
-- Domaine Rives-Blanques, Limoux
South-West
-- Domaine Pialentou, Gaillac
-- Domaine de Malartic, Côtes de Gascogne
-- Domaine Pouybet, Côtes de Gascogne
-- Domaine du Pountet, Côtes du Brûlhois
Roussillon
-- Domaine Ferrer-Ribière
-- Domaine Clot de l’Oum
-- Domaine des Soulanes
-- Domaine la Vista
Rhône
-- Domaine Fontavin, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Provence
-- Château La Calisse, Coteaux Varois en Provence
Read more...
This is a beautiful and inspiring book. It tells the story of the birth of the Chilean wine industry. It talks about the history, about the winemaking, the nature (and of course a bit about the mountains), and about many of the wineries. The photography is excellent with enchanting landscapes, moody cellars, and much more. The pictures certainly make you want to go there. From a wine enthusiast stand-point, the texts are quite light-weight (with also some odd statements about winemaking). You should not expect to learn much in depth about Chilean wines, neither does it give much detail for the prospective tourist. Instead you can read it to get inspired and perhaps get a feeling about the country. The author lived for several years in Chile but is of French origin and wrote the book as a way to make Chilean wines and wineries better known. It is published in three languages.
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