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.