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.