The American Ambassador in France and later President of USA Thomas Jefferson once said: “Good wine is a necessity of life for me”. He learned especially to love the sweet Muscat wine from Frontignan in south of France and it is told that even after he returned to US as president he made sure to have a few cases of this wine in The White House.

The Muscat de Frontignan is a very old wine and the Swedish 18^th century poet Carl Michael Bellman wrote about what he called sweet Frontignac in his songs. There are old document that witness that ships from Sweden came to the port of Sete only to ship muscat wine home to Stockholm already in the 17^th century.

The wine of those days might not have been as elaborate as the wine today but it was good enough to fascinate both Popes and Presidents and to make Count de Lur Saluces to go to Frontignan to learn how to make sweet wines. As we know the methods from Midi did not fit the wet climate of Bordeaux, but he got his fantastic Botrytis wines so I am sure he was happy anyway. He brought the old Frontignan bottle back which we now know as the Bordeaux bottle.

The very best of the wines of Frontignan, as I see it, is Château de la Peyrade. Their Muscat has almost constantly been top rated in Guide Hachette the last ten years. It differs from many competitors in the area as it has a nice and fresh acidity that livens up the sweetness in a very elegant way. They also have a very nice Muscat Sec - Cuvée de Lilas that is very good with fish dishes, with Foie Gras or with Sea food. You can also drink it as an aperitif.

At Chateau de la Peyrade you can also buy wines from a large number of vineyards in Languedoc to the same price as on site. You can however not taste these wines.

Today our friends next door invited us for lunch. They had made an inventory of their cellar and had found a bottle of Cuvée Bois des Dames vintage 2000 from Château Etang des Colombes outside Lezignan Corbières. This was really a lovely wine; dark brick purple, so dark that it almost did not let any light through. The nose was delicious with notes of marzipan, chocolate and dark fruit jam. The taste was as good with lots of dark fruits, jam, tobacco and chocolate. This vintage received Coup de Coeur Guide Hachette 2003. It is only in the hart of Corbières one can have a simple but delicious country style lunch accompanied with a wine that would cost around 20 euros if you can get hold of it in the wine shop. I guess most of us would save it for more prestigious occasions.

Many Frenchmen go to Sete especially to eat fresh sea food. Oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, shrimps and fish are specialities of the area. Consequently you can find a wine suitable for this food. They grow a special grape in Herault – Picpoul de Pinet. There are a number of producers of this wine in the area, but I am most fond of the one from Hugues de Beauvignac in Pomerols. They have a traditional Picpoul de Pinet which is excellent but also one that is fermented in oak barrels. Their Viogner is also very nice.

I have talked a lot about traditional AOC wines from this area, but some of the very best wines are designers wines made of grapes not typical for the region or just single grape wine. These wine are sold with the label Vin de Pays Doc which sounds a little simple, but be aware that you can find the most fantastic wines here, and do not think that all of them are sheep, but often well worth it. One very interesting vineyard is in Marseillan is Domaine la Madeleine Saint-Jean. They have a selection of delicious white and red wines, oddly enough bottled in Bourgogne bottles. Other famous producers of top end Vin de Pays Doc are Château L’Hosptialet, Domaine Dumas Gassac and Domaine D’Ormeson.

When you are in Marseillan you might take the opportunity to visit Noilly Prat in the same village. Many people say that Noilly Prat is the only thing you can use to make a true Dry Martini – I don’t know, but it is a nice visit. Except for the traditional white version they also sell an ambre and a rosé type that you can not find in the shops. We need Noilly Prat to make our fabulous grilled Oysters, but one or two Dry Martinis might not hurt. Do you know that the strange name comes from the first letters in the herbs and spices that are used in this Vermouth? Another interesting thing is that the base of this drink is two very typical grapes for this region – Picpoul and Clairette. They actually make a wine also from Clairette named Clairette de Languedoc. If I remember right it was quite a pleasant white wine.

When we talk about unusual grapes, another one has to be mentioned – Alicante Bouschet. You might not know that all grapes have almost white juice except Alicante Bouschet, which has deep red juice. In the old days they grew this grape to give a deeper colour to the wine. With new technique and higher quality this is not necessary, but there are a few producers that make single grape wine from this grape. It is not among my favourites though.

Languedoc has a special role in French wine production. It was here, around 150 B.C., that the first vine was planted in France. Narbo (Norbonne) was the first Roman colony and the vice king Domitius Ahenobarbus came to govern the area. At the time it was a shortage of wine in Rome so he encourages the warriors coming back from the second Punian war to settle down in Narbo and start growing vine to export to Rome. He also builds a special road all the way from Spain to cater for the transport – Via Domitia.

It is really hard to choose the best vineyards of Languedoc as there are so many. I know however that those places every tourist goes to seldom are the best. A typical disappointment was Terra Vinea outside Portel that looks fantastic on all the ads one can find at the side of all roads in the south of Languedoc. In my opinion it is very much like Disneyworld without having the unique presence of Mickey Mouse. The wines are all right but not great considering the prize.

Another place I would not recommend is Cave de Mont Tauch in Tuchan that is the centre of the Fitou area. AOC Fitou are excellent wines much like the Corbières wines, but try to go to one of the independent producers to get them. This producer is enormous and the staff is, I guess, all employed and very little interested in you as a customer. Rather go to the little village south of Tuchan and visit Domaine Bertrand-Bergé which is an excellent producer of Fitou wines. You will be received by the patron himself and get a very warm welcoming. The wines are among the top in the area.

When you are in this southern part of Corbiéres Mountains you should visit Cave Cooperative d’Embres-et-Castelmaure which is one of the very best producers you can find. The wines are fabulous, especially if you have the patience to save them a few years. Just today we had one of their most simple wines, the Vieux Chapelle from 2001 and, believe it or not, this low prize wine was still excellent. It had matured into something much better than the prize would ever promise. I brought a bottle of their Castelmaure, Grand Cuvée, 2003 back to my wine club in Sweden. They were delighted and said they had never had such a delicious wine before. That wine is not even one of the more expensive ones. This is one of the producers that sell more matured wines as well, but you have to pay for the time they have kept it. It is a much better idea to buy the most recent wine and save it yourself for a few years. No shares on the stock market would gain higher value that fast.

If you are in this southern part and maybe are on your way to Spain I think you should take a detour to Collioure. This is the centre of Banyuls, which is a delicious dessert wine originally made by the Templiers. The reason I advice you to go is however the red wine AOC Collioure which is of extremely high quality. I do not have any particular producer to advice of as I have only had these wines in restaurants. They are a little expensive, but you understand why when you see those old suffering, not more than a few decimetre high, vines scattered on a barren slope that can not give a very high yield. I guess this is the smallest appellation in Languedoc-Roussillon.

I have only been talking about red wines but there are fantastic rose wines in this area as well. One of the best, as I see it, is Château Pech-Redon on top of the mountain Pech Redon in La Clape. Just to take the road up to the chateau is worth the trip. The view is fantastic and the landscape beautiful.

Other excellent rose wine producers are Château Voulte Gasparet in Gasparet, Domaine de Fontsainte in Boutenac, Cave Co-operative de Cascastel in Cascastel des Corbières and many others. These vineyards also have excellent red wines.

I will soon come back with more information on great wines in Languedoc. Among other things I will introduce you to the amazing sweet wine of Château de la Peyrade.

The wines of Corbières might be the best buy you can make in France. What about Bordeaux, Bourgogne and Alsace you certainly argue when you read this. I am the first to admit that those areas have fantastic wines – so has Loire and Champagne, not mentioning the whole Rhone valley. I have been to them all and I have imported French wines to Sweden and I enjoy exploring all the fantastic wines that this country does produce. So, why do I say that Corbières is so fabulous?

First of all, many of the wine regions I mentioned above have fantastic wines to a fantastic prize. But, where do you buy Bordeaux what is even close in quality to a Corbières wine if you have 10 euros to spend. For around 10 euros you get a bottle of the amazing 2005 vintage of the new AOC Corbières Boutenac from Chateau de Luc or Chateau Grand Moulin or you get two bottles of the fantastic Merlot or Carignan made by the master himself Gerard Bertrand at Chateau L’Hospitalet. Visit any of the top vineyards in any of the more known areas in France and you see what you have to pay for their good quality wines.

So, now I will give you a guide to some of what I think are among the best producers of wine in Corbières and maybe a little outside this area as well.

First I will introduce you to the new AOC of the village where I live - AOC Corbières Boutenac. This is one of the latest additions to the approved AOC wines in France. The first year the wine is bottled is 2005, which was one of the best years in a century in the area. They say 2006 and 2007 will be equally good, which partly is one of the up sides of global warming.

The Corbières Boutenac is like Minervios La Livinière a sub category of a larger terroir. The rules for production is very strict which makes the wines more expensive but also of better quality so you can save them for many more years than you can with the ordinary wines from the area. Most of these wines, as the other top wines from the area, will be all right to save for 10 years, maybe more for some of them. The typical grapes of the red wines of Corbières are Carignan, Grenache gris and noire, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault

The first place we will visit is Château La Voulte Gasparet in Gasparet in the commune of Boutenac. They have basically four wines, two red, one rosé and one white. The rose is excellent but it is the two red wines that are really interesting. The less expensive Cuvée Réservée is made from vine that is 50 years old plus and can be saved for many years. Browsing the web I see they still sell bottles from early 1990^th from some wholesalers. Their top wine which is an AOC Courbières Boutenac from 2005 and on is Cuvée Romain Pouc. This wine has grown on vine that is as old as it can be in France – around 100 years. The yield is very small and the grapes very intense. The soil they grow on resembles that of Château Neuf du Pape. I by at least one case of each cuvee every year and save in my wine cellar, which will give me excellent wines in about 3-5 years from now. They are actually delicious already accompanied by a piece of red steak or a mature cheese, but it is a pity to drink them young.

My next favourite is Château de Luc in Luc sur Orbieu. We are talking about the, among wine lovers, famous Val d’Orbieu here. Also here you find an excellent Boutenac Corbières named simply Chateau Fabre Gasparet to a very reasonable prize; under 10 euros. This producer however have many more excellent wines, white, red and rose; normal wines and organic wines. My favourite among the whites is their Sauvignon Blanc. Corbières is not known for its white wines as they mostly have to be consumed young, but they are really very tasty. This wine is like drinking a full basket of exotic fruits. It is hard to find anything tastier with oysters or other sea food or just as an aperitif on the terrace in the sun. I am very fond of the elegant Sauvignon Blanc wines they produce in Loire but this is something totally different that one can not help liking. But the real interesting wines from Château de Luc are the red wines. There are several red wines mainly of traditional Corbières type like Chateau de Luc ; a wine that can take quite a few years saving but can be consumed after just a few years also. We had an excellent 2003 the other day. The producer Louis Fabre is very proud of his Cepage Cabernet named after himself which is an excellent wine to drink now.

Another producer in the neighbourhood is Château Grand Moulin. This producer has a great selection of wines and again the red are the most interesting. Among them you find one Corbières Boutenac with the label Château Grand Moulin that is really good and worth saving, but also a number of really delicious red wines typical for the area. One of my favourites is the cask matured wine labelled Vieilles Vignes. Also older bottles are available which is not that common as it will drive up the prizes to keep the wines at the producer’s. As an investment it is a good idea to buy young wines and save them yourself. On the other hand, the capitalization is only available in the form of more excellent wines at your dinner as you will surely drink them yourself. You find this producer in Lezignan Corbières where he had to move after the flood in the end of the 90^th that totally drowned his premises on the banks of Orbieu River.

The last on the list for now will be a vineyard in La Clape, Château L’Hospitalet. This is one of the most interesting producers with a great reputation for not only delicious wines that can be afforded, but also wines that they themselves call jewels rather than wines. On the premises there is also a hotel and a great restaurant with very good food and jazz music now in the spring.

The wines range from 5 euros for very nice “cepage” wines, AOC wines for reasonable money up to 50 euros plus for the most expensive jewels in their collection. They have a large range of different regions like AOC Corbières, Boutenac coming from the owner Gerard Bertrand’s family vineyard Villemajou in Boutenac. The also have La Clape wines from the area around the chateau and the very high quality AOC Minervois, La Livinière. On my last birthday my wife gave me three bottles of Le Viala, 2003 from that region. I can save those bottles for 15 years and more if I like, but I have a feeling that we will consume them before that.

I told you about the tunnels that people in the village think is under our cellar floor. It might be so, but when we started to investigate it we found that the hole in the floor was solidly filled with debris and very hard to do something about. We simply decided that the investigation of the underground of our house has to be left to the next generation. So, we decided to just make a concrete floor over the whole space. There was however a little problem as the existing floor had quite a big difference in height from one end to the other. If we would make the new floor totally levelled we had to make it more than 10 cm higher in one end which would mean to cut the door and a few other things. We decided that it is not a big deal if the floor is a bit off level so we did it the pragmatic way.

The procedure was quite simple. We levelled out the floor fairly well with gravel, put the electric cabling in place, fitted the reinforcing steel nets and poured concrete over it. To get nice and even surface on the right level we first made three elevated strings of concrete that was absolutely levelled. When the concrete was poured on the floor it was levelled out with a long plank that we skidded on the two elevated concrete guides. In this way we got a very even and nice floor on the right level.

After the concrete floor was dry, which takes quite a while, we put tiles of Pierres du Lot, that is often used down here, mostly outside. We however thought it would give the right rustic character to our cellar.

The walls in the cellar were really bad. As I said earlier some parts were just the natural soft rock that the house is built on. Some were mended with cement and one wall was just a thin brick wall covered with patches of plaster or cement. The old wall between our cellar and the neighbours’ cellar were of really bad quality and the masonry of old natural stone had such soft joints that it partly fell out like sand. I have already told you what we did with the rock parts where water came through. It was not less work with the rest.

There are several ways of dealing with such an old wall. In the attic we picked the wall so all old plaster and cement was gone and the joints between the stones were opened. In such case we could use a hard cement based plasterthat would stick on the old stones and fill the joints. This is the best way to do it as the quite hard surface actually works as a supporting skin over the old wall. To do this in the cellar would be very difficult as all old plaster and cement had to be taken away. The cement based coating does not stick on old plaster.

We made the choice to coat the wall with plaster as it sticks to both old plaster and to cement based coatings. It is not as durable and strong as the other, but we did not need the supporting skin here as we needed in the attic.

The very soft parts had to be picked down until we found good quality stones. Not even plaster will stick on thin air or sand. I am happy the walls are about 60 cm wide so it is not dangerous to pick a few holes here and there. After the stones were treated with a product that works as glue, we applied the first layer of quite wet plaster. Where the whole were deepest we filled it with these very thin blocks of bricks that was fastened in a layer of plaster.

Those parts of the wall that were of natural rock but dry we picket so the soft surface disappeared and we had a solid hard rock left.

When the whole wall was mended and everything loose was picked down we started to plaster the whole wall. We had decided it should be very rustic so we did not make any efforts to even the wall. On the contrary the more brute it became; the better we liked it. The trick is to water the wall thoroughly before applying the quite soft plaster. You apply it with a masonry trowel, let it dry for a few minutes, spray it with water and slightly even it out with your hand, a brush or any tool you think makes the best texture. After a few weeks it will turn white in a very nice way.

Next time I will tell you about the ceiling.