You might recall my previous delight at discovering that there is an entire association of French towns with rude or silly names.  And I tried to add to the wonderment of that discovery by sharing my favorite Languedoc-Roussillon town names like Saint Arnac (saint ripoff) and Conas (which sounds just like Connasse since we often pronounce S at the end of words in the south).

What I didn’t realize is that there was a wine cooperative in Saint Arnac.  According to a friend who runs that Minervois Coop blog, the unfortunately named winery was founded in 1931.  And the records he found show that they produced 2,594 hectolitres of “Corbières supérieurs du Roussillon” [sic].  Appropriate for a homophone of arnaque?  Of course, that name isn’t SOOO wacky since the Corbieres do extend a little over the border between the Pyrenees Orientales and l’Aude.  So it’s conceivable that these guys weren’t a bunch of arnaquers.

Either way, Saint Ripoff is no longer in business.  The buildings have been taken over by a new association of winemakers but they rather intelligently chose to change the name to La Preceptorie de Centernach. Centernach doesn’t sound nearly as bad as Saint Arnac.  Oh and here’s a cool flickr stream I found with a lot of photos of the harvest at La Preceptorie de Centernach.