Carcassonne and Narbonne, the Pech de Bugarach, these names from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France evoke the sun and endless blue sky! The grapes of the region producing the great Corbières wine appellation are gilding all year nearby, and they do not disappoint either.
The wine region of Corbières is composed of grape varieties such as Carignan, Grenache Gris and Noir, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Picpoul, Syrah for red and rosé Corbières wines, and Maccabeu, Bourboulenc for white Corbières wines. The Corbières appellation is the largest of the Languedoc vineyards.
The vineyards cover on a huge area of over 290,000 acres, offering a production of about 550,000 hectolitres per year. The climate is obviously Mediterranean with dry summers and the landscape consists of “garrigue” scrubland vegetation. The most inland area of Languedoc-Roussillon also benefit from an oceanic influence. The soils are very diverse (shale, molasses, limestone) but all have one thing in common: the fact that they are very hilly. The red Corbières wines have a dark, almost black, colour depending on the grape varieties. The rosé Corbières wines have purple glints, those of the young white Corbières wines are green, and they tend to become gold when the wine is getting more mature. When you buy some bottles of red Corbières wines, it is recommended to drink them within 5 years so that you can enjoy the most of their fine notes of blackcurrant, spice and liquorice. These wines exhibit the terroir mouth-feel through notes of rosemary. The rosé Corbières wines reveal very fruity aromas, like white Corbières wines, that express a lovely freshness with aromas of white flowers. On the palate red Corbières wines are powerful, warm and tannic, or sometimes a little softer depending on the type of soil.
