Inspiring Thirst An inside look at the wines of Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant.

by Sarah Hernan Our guest today is Pierre Ravaille, one of the three Ravaille brothers from the Languedoc domaine Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup. Kermit first met the Ravaille family about 15 years ago. He was struck by the almost pre-historic stone house, farm, and cellar, as well as their private wine collection (which includes […]

by Sarah Hernan If I said “whole cluster fermentation,” what would be your first thought? Fruit? Freshness? Beaujolais? Bravo! But this post is not about Beaujolais. Let me give you another clue. Old vine Carignan, Grenache, Macabou, and Terret. Southern Rhône? Closer—Languedoc-Roussillon! Featured at one of our recent weekly staff tastings were the new arrivals […]

by Chris Santini Hard to imagine but true, Gaddafi once sent a team of Libyan messengers deep in the hills of the Languedoc to meet with a group of angry and exasperated vignerons. The year was 1973, and a century of boiling tensions between these growers and the omnipotent local négociants had culminated in gunfights […]

Sarah Hernan, our French intern for the summer and fall joins us as our guest blogger today. You have probably already heard or read about the Domaine d’Aupilhac. In the middle of Languedoc close to the Terrasses du Larzac, Sylvain Fadat and his wife Désirée built a wine cellar next to the family house right […]

 In our retail shop, any salesperson will be quick to point to the Languedoc section for some of the best values in the store. Having long been the source of the vast majority of France’s bulk wine, the Languedoc nonetheless produces wines of quality that are consequently undervalued. We are not ones to complain: nothing […]

The Languedoc is an amazing mix of cultures, history, and geology. The viticultural legacy left by the Greeks and Romans still leaves its mark today, and it is not at all unusual to find vestiges of a previous era in vineyards that have been operating for thousands of years. As I mentioned in our newsletter […]

Thursday’s staff tasting featured a wide range of regions and styles. Because of this diversity we didn’t hold to our usual north to south tasting order but instead jumped around. We started in the Languedoc with some new arrivals from Saint Martin de la Garrigue. Here’s a brief history of Saint Martin as told by […]

The time around July 4th is when French wine sales take a little hit. Domestic wineries jump on the “buy American” bandwagon and people head to their local shops that feature their favorite homegrown wines. This makes sense, right? July 4th = Zinfandel? Why on earth would you buy a bottle of French wine to […]

The other night we tasted through our first large shipment of 2008 rosés and some other recent arrivals. Here are the highlights… 40% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 10% Cinsault and man does that Syrah show in the 2008 Languedoc Rosé from Château Lascaux ($14.95). The Lascaux Rosé consistently has a peppery spice to it […]