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- Oct 16, 2024, 10:30 AM
- 🌧 18 °C
- Altitude: 164 m
- FranceOccitaniaLauret43°48’58” N 3°53’46” E
Pic Saint-Loup (part 1)
October 16, 2024 in France ⋅ 🌧 18 °C
Today we ventured out to the Pic Saint-Loup wine region, located about 20 km north of Montpellier. Our guide was Bertrand, who grew up, and still lives, in the area. There were seven us on the tour, a French couple Karin and Laurent from Versailles, an American couple Rachel and Gerard from Kentucky, and Anne from Scotland.
We headed off pretty much on time in Bertrand’s Fiat Van. He was full of energy, very engaging and spoke very rapidly in both French and English while waving his arms about for most of the trip out there. It was a 25 km drive from Montpellier and he told us a lot about the wine regions or appellations of France, with Pic Saint-Loup being the youngest (2017). He also told us the legend of how Pic Saint-Loup got its name - it involved three brothers who loved one girl, war, lost love and loss. Pic Saint-Loup is the spectacular mountain that the wine region is named after, or it would have been if the sun was shining.
We arrived at the Château Lancyre where they had finished harvesting a few weeks ago and were now busy with the post harvest activities such as blending. This vineyard is owned by one family and grows mainly Syrah and Grenache on one property which, as we found out, means that it can be called a chateau. It has been in the same family for a couple of hundred years but has been producing wine for a lot longer. After a tour of the property in gale force winds we went to Le Caveau, where we tasted five wines, a rosé, two whites and two reds. They were all very good but there were two standouts for me: D’Ici en Voit La Mer, 2023; La Rouvière, 2023 AOP Pic Saint-Loup; D’Ombre et de Lumière, 2023 AOP Pic Saint-Loup (my favourite white); Vieille Vignes, 2021 AOP Pic Saint -Loup; and Grande Cuvée, 2020 AOP Pic Saint -Loup (my favourite red).
After we finished the tasting and bought some wine, we were back in the van heading to Saint-Jean-de-Cuculles, a small village in Pic Saint-Loup where Bertrand was born, raised and still lives. We went to his house, which is more like a compound with several residences and buildings. He lives there with his wife and three children and his mother. We were treated to a delicious lunch made by Bertrand’s mother (who is 74 and fabulous). Lunch comprised of a range of dips - chestnut, pea, beetroot, lentil & hummus with bread - a piece of spanakopita, a piece of onion pie, baked goats cheese in filo pastry, confit duck with smashed potatoes, and a salad. We then had a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of coconut cake for dessert, finishing with an espresso. The food was washed down with a red wine from Pic Saint-Loup. We also met the family pooch, Snow, a 4-year old Golden Retriever.Read more