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THE key to discovering the real joys of the South of France is to forget where you are. Few regions in the world have developed such a romantic mystique. And that’s the problem with the South of France.
Living so far away, we have an impression of the region built from snippets of lofty travelogues, sunny postcards, stories like Peter Mayles’ A Year in Provence and Helen Mirren’s recent The Hundred-Foot Journey, and wine labels from bottles we’ll never afford.
Close your eyes, you’ll hear an accordion playing as the sun sets through the vines and sparkles in the last drop of your wine . . .
Of course it’s like that, and more, but put aside all your ideas and discover the region for what it is, rather than what you think it is.
We trained it in to Montpellier from Barcelona, en route to London, for three days to unwind after heady Spain. A great decision!
On our first morning our wine guide Bertrand collected us in his car. He already had one other passenger, Cathy – also from Sydney.
Her husband, a doctor, was a guest lecturer at one of the three universities and she was using the time to hike Pic Saint-Loup mountain, which gives its name to wines of the area.
Bertrand, talking nonstop, always informative and entertaining, drove us to the foothills of the mountain.
It’s part of the sprawling Languedoc-Roussillon wine region – at 2800 square kilometres, the biggest wine-producing region in the world.
We did two Pic Saint-Loup wineries, the large sprawling vineyard of Haut-Lirou and the boutique family winery Mas Gourdou recently taken over by new owners.
Mount Pic Saint-Loup by air . . .
Hectares of vines were growing in meticulous lines. An architect couldn’t have made them straighter. Fresh green shoots were just breaking through.
There are hard and fast rules of French viticulture. Only certain authorised varieties can be grown, they must be harvested at specific times, in specific ways, and the wine aged according to tradition.
Break the rules and you can’t use the region’s label. And without the label you can only sell it as table wine. Which is why table wine in the South of France can be so good!
We tasted a handful of glorious wines at both wineries. Subtle differences in colour, nose, taste, impossible to pick one over another.
Then Bertrand drove us back to his B&B villa where his mother had prepared us an amazing lunch.
We sat at a table for two on the porch outside under the trees and enjoyed cheese parcels, moussaka and fraises et ganache au chocolat, tart with strawberries in chocolate ganache.
And as much local wine as we wanted.
The sun filtered through the trees overhead, Bertrand’s mum kept filling our glasses and bringing out sumptuous food and fresh impressions of the great tradition of French wine-making danced in our heads. Life doesn’t get much better.
On the way back to Montpellier, Bertrand stopped off to show us Les Matelles, a living working Medieval stone village, population 1537.
Montpellier itself was flourishing by the year 985. It had grown a little way from the coast, chased off by constant pirate raids.
It was still a merchant city but it gradually developed into a university town.
The commune at nearby Les Matelles was a stately and beautiful collection of stone buildings begun in the 12th century, its maze of narrow uncovered walkways and porches just wide enough for two or three people to pass.
It’s been beautifully preserved and maintained. Sunlight pours into the walkways and flowering vines, olive bushes and grassy green patches contrast the golden sandstone.
That night, exhausted, exhilarated, we made the most of a couple of bottles we’d bought at each winery and ate at one of the street cafes.
Next day we walked into town, rather than take the tram, and wandered around the outskirts of Montpellier, taking in the huge church, which was all but built out, in the middle of a tiny street.
We heard music and followed it to a town square ringed with cafes and wine bars and hundreds of chairs and tables out in the sun. And crowds of people dancing in the square. Square-dancing, literally.
And these were young people, all twirling and do-si-do-ing to a wonderful five- or six-piece dance band. They were probably university students – who comprise a third of the population of the city. Children joined in, seniors as well. It was infectious, we stayed for a couple of hours.
Then we walked to the city’s main square and sampled our first authentic French crepe, with Grand Marnier. The next night we ordered canard (duck), which turned out to be boeuf (beef) because of our lousy French. But it was beautiful.
We walked back to our unit through the historic region of Montpellier.
It’s the fastest-growing city in France, but thankfully the glorious architecture of the last centuries is intact, and used as restaurants, diners, shops, clubs.
And I marvelled, as I always do in Europe, at the gentle lamplight which hit the stonework, covering it in gold and making all the passersby look like they’d been painted by Renoir. ❏
■ The writers were sponsored on this trip by British Airways and supported by Instant Terroir Wine Tours in Montpellier.
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BRITISH AIRWAYS' PREMIUM ECONOMY
The laid-on Moet and Veuve and five-star dining options of first and business class, frankly, are mere trifles compared with the e-x-t-r-a r-o-o-m for your legs, and arms, and neck, and back . . .
Until recently it was either economy or prohibitively expensive first or business. The introduction of another mid-class of travel has changed that.
Premium economy is an affordable mid-way point which brings measurable extra leg-room and increased comfort.
British Airways calls it World Traveller Plus and it's available on selected British Airways long-haul routes. More here. ❏
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