This post is part of a series of posts about le Vin 2.0 2011 where Robert Joseph presented on the topic of wine tourism and consumer psychology.

Wine Tourism

Oenotourism is the other big subject Robert Joseph tackled. The presentation was similar to the one Vitisphere reported on in October. And it definitely falls in line with some of the wine tourism concepts I wrote about earlier this year. The gist of the presentation is that we have to change a lot of things in the wine tourism business. But really it’s a big sprawling topic so you might want to look through the slides embedded below:

Here are some random observations I’d like to make:

There are people who want to visit vineyards even though they’re not obsessed with wine.  Wine tourism is supposed to be entertainment.  I agree with all of this and talk about it a lot (most recently in the conclusion of my five minute story at the EWBC).  Visiting a winery should not be a task. It should be fun and entertaining.  It can also be educational and informative, but those are all secondary to the entertainment.  And then he does a semantic analysis of trip advisor reviews (again, I’m getting deja vu here as I just did this type of analysis with the O’Vineyards tripadvisor reviews this year)

Although he also argues that wineries should have pools and movie theaters and daycares and all kinds of peripheral activities.  I think this is smart, but it’s also important to note that not every winery will do all of this.  It’s up to each winemaker to figure out how to intelligently expand their tourism offer without overstretching themselves or falling into a job they don’t actually want to do.

Slide 17 is hilarious/tragic… 99% of Napa wine producers find tourism to be financially viable while 60% of Florentines do not find it financially viable even though the average shopping cart size is actually smaller in Napa (according to this study).  Is this because there are far more visitors at a time in Napa?  Or are Italians/Europeans/Mediterraneans just predisposed to being unhappy about our tourism activity? ;D

The question of merchandise is also raised.  Here too I wholeheartedly agree with Robert.  My parents and I really make a lot of sacrifices to create delicious, unique, life-altering wines and we sometimes make pennies per bottle.  On the other hand, I can buy glassware, corkscrews and hoodies with our logo or Carcassonne written on them and sell those at 400% markup.  It’s absurd, but I make more money selling a bar of soap with my logo (ordered online) than on the bottle of wine that I spent three years on.  And this is a point of contention.  Some people say that a winemaker exists to sell wine, not to sell soap.  I’m not sure, but I think a winemaker exists to make wine.  If I have to sell soap to subsidize my wine sales, then I will sell soap.  It’s what I have to do to make wine.  And I don’t want to imagine a world where I’m not making wine.  So sell soap.

Joseph also cites this article about tasting room sales and it’s pretty interesting.

I don’t really have a well organized mailing list (which is terrible of me. it’s one of the things I need to change in 2012) or any wine club (something I might change).  This was a big topic and I am ashamed at the end of it. :-/

Then he also talked about the R&D potential of visitors at the vineyard.  Why not ask your visitors to try new blends and see if they like it.  Test out ideas on your tourists because they are your final market.  This sparked some controversy in the talks afterwards as many winemakers find it unthinkable that you would make a wine to cater to the public (essentially to the lowest common denominator the way record labels pick singles to go on the radio).  At this extreme, you end up with bland, inoffensive wines that nobody hates (and nobody loves) that can appeal to all markets.  But that is an extreme.  If you actually have a steady flow of tourists, you can draw information from them and choose to use it or ignore it the same way you would use an oenologist or winemaking consultant.  Furthermore, I’d argue that my tourists are not the same as a random sample from the  global population.  People who visit my vineyard tend to be a little like me, weird sense of humor, interested in learning, like a large range of different wine styles, and so on.  Taking their opinions into count is not the same as trying to cater to everybody.

Sorry this post is so rambly.  Hard act to follow.

I found an amazing vintage video in the Prelinger Archives where the US Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service is encouraging farmers to start catering to farm tourism.  Circa 1965.

It’s perfectly hokey.  But it’s also interesting to see some old ideas about rural tourism (and consider that many of the ideas remain the same today).

If you found this post because you’d like to have a rural vacation, then you can find more information about visiting O’Vineyards or staying in our Bed & Breakfast.

There’s a really interesting theme about returning to childhood or simpler times.  Something to think about and perhaps explore more in our own rural recreation.  I think one of the reasons I’ve neglected this theme is because wine is inherently an adult subject in the USA.  But there’s still something to think about here.  Also I want a narrator like this in all moments of my life. 😀

The video is Public Domain in case you want to use it somewhere else! 🙂

Tonton Marcel, a French and German guide to agritourism, dropped by O’Vineyards toward the end of harvest.  They’re on the lookout for the  unpretentious, country relation of Mr. and Mrs. Smith who also runs accommodations on the farm. 😀

Photos they took while here

 

Tonton Marcel separates the wheat from the chaff

I think this is a guide that needed to exist.  One of the big problems with agritourism is that you’re never sure if you’re getting a cool, modern farm experience or a cheap little cot in a hayloft with a farmer who seems to dislike visitors.  This second group is often a historical artifact resulting from the way farmers used to make a little spare cash.

There was a time when your horses got tired and you’d ask one of the locals if there were any pensions before the next big town.  A place where you could tie up your horses and shut your eyes until morning.  Those places still exist.  A lot of farms and vineyards run their chambres d’hotes or gites in a similar manner.  You show up, get the key, and then they’ll avoid you at all cost for the rest of your stay.  The room is located on a farm, but otherwise you’re as separated from the farm experience as possible.  These places also tend to be a little run down.  A little rusticity can be charming, but people also expect a certain level of comfort.

Modern agritourism, especially in wine, can result in massive investments like four star hotels with a view on the vines.  Every comfort imaginable.  But then these accommodations can go a bit too far and you forget you’re even staying at a farm.

Tonton Marcel seems to seek out the special sweetspot between authenticity and modernity.  They’re looking for operators like my family.  We actually make wine and we’re winemakers before we’re hoteliers.  But at the same time, we understand that you should show your guests a bit of hospitality and we’re savvy enough to include them in the winemaking process when we can. Guests at O’Vineyards will almost definitely remember the winemakers as they look back fondly on their stay.

So the guide finds farms like mine.  And I think a lot of kids my age are looking for this sort of experience.  I say kids because the average age of our B&B guests so far is about 35.  That’s exceptionally low for a B&B.  It’s eye opening for a lot of operators who think that only older couples are interested in the bed and breakfast concept.

So here’s hoping that Tonton Marcel becomes as much a household name as Mr & Mrs Smith.

A lot of people ask me what wine regions are closest to Toulouse, because they’d like to get out of the city to taste some wine.  I thought I’d write up my wine tasting recommendations in one place.

If you want to spend a day visiting a wine region near Toulouse, I’m naturally going to recommend that you visit me at O’Vineyards or spend the night in our B&B.  I’m a little more than an hour’s drive from Toulouse and after you visit O’Vineyards, you can spend some time at the Cité de Carcassonne.  But this page has information about all the other wine regions you can visit near Toulouse.

Wine regions close to Toulouse

• Gaillac (near Albi) – Probably the closest wine area that people talk about frequently.  You can check out Albi’s cathedral or the Toulouse Lautrec museum on the same day as they’re in the same area as Gaillac.
• Cabardes (near Carcassonne) – The Languedoc-Roussillon appellation that is closest to Toulouse, Cabardes is just a few kilometers away from the Cité de Carcassonne, so that can be an interesting day trip or weekend.
• Cahors – This is the original home of Malbec, a grape varietal made popularized in Argentina.  Try to find a winery that makes real black wine, so dark you can add water and still not see through it.
• Madiran – A southwestern appellation that has gained notoriety more recently for it’s highly tannic wines generally dominated by the Tannat grape  variety.
• Cotes de Millau – I don’t know much about the wines, but it’s made right around where they make Roquefort cheese (and you can often visit those cheese caves).  So if you’re into salty blue cheeses this would be a pretty epic day trip.
• Armagnac –  Not strictly wine, but worth mentioning, as this spirit is distilled from wine.  Similar to cognac but aged differently.  Check it out if you like spirits.

These are generally ordered by a combination of how interesting I think they are and how far they are from Toulouse.  It’s not an exact science because some wine regions are very large and oddly shaped and so even though most of the region is farther away, some wineries in it may be closer.  To illustrate this point, the map here shows all the southwestern French wine designations, but Cabardes (which is technically Languedoc-Roussillon and not southwestern France) is not shown even though it is much closer than most of southwestern France.  Such is life!

Here is a more complete list of wine areas classified as Southwestern French wines which includes some regions that I don’t know as much about:

• Côtes du Frontonnais
• Vins de Lavilledieu
• Gaillac
• Cotes de Brulhois
• Cotes de Buzet
• Cotes du Marmandais
• Cahors
• Cotes de Saint-Mont
• Tursan
• Madiran / Pacherenc du Vic Bilh
• Bergerac
• Cotes du Duras
• Montravel
• Monbazillac
• Saussignac
• Pecharmant
• Rosette
• Marcillac
• Vins d’Entraygues et du Fel
• Vins d’Estaing
• Cotes de Millau
• Bearn
• Jurancon
• Irouléguy (Basque country)

TripAdvisor users who look for “Things to Do” in the Languedoc Roussillon region are presented with a top 3 attractions list, and Domaine O’Vineyards is the number 1 attraction on that list!  We also placed #1 on the complete list of 174 things to do in Languedoc Roussillon.

What is TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel review site.  Anybody with the Internet can log in and review attractions, accommodation, restaurants and so on.  A lot of hotels and B&B places study their tripadvisor reviews religiously because your rating on this site can make or break a business.

How did we get listed

A very friendly Irishman took our winery tour in 2010 and he had a really good time.  After the wine tasting, he told us that he would give us a really good TripAdvisor review, and I had no idea what he was talking about.  On June 15, 2010 (just 14 months ago) this friendly Irishman posted a review of O’Vineyards on the site.  We had no engagement with TripAdvisor at all.  No cost.  We just kept operating our tours as we always did and suddenly we got this cool feedback on a review site that, at a glance, seemed like a pretty big deal.

A couple of months later,  I was nearing the end of a tour when somebody mentioned that this was as awesome as promised on TripAdvisor.  Now that was interesting!  So we started asking everybody how they found out about us.  Today, one year later, we see that TripAdvisor is one of our best sources of clients.  They’re ahead of the Office of Tourism and tied with all the local B&Bs, cottage rentals, and hotels that we work with (combined).  That’s an outstanding statistic!

And it’s a self-enforcing feedback loop.  The clients we get from TripAdvisor tend to know exactly what to expect because of the level of detail in the reviews.  That means they are easier to please because they have realistic and informed expectations.  And then they go back and review us on TripAdvisor, further adding to the detail available on the site and increasing our rating.  So in just one year, we’ve become the number one attraction in the entire Languedoc Roussillon!

Additionally, the feedback we receive from the site has not been empty praise.  By listening to people’s reviews, we actually learned what people like most about our tours (and by deduction what parts people didn’t really care about).  We were able to shift our efforts to emphasize the elements that people like most.  I’ll write about this more in the future, but it’s basically the subject of my who visits vineyards post.

What’s next?

I think it’s a travesty that I’m one of the only vineyards listed on TripAdvisor.

One of my guests this year (coincidentally, somebody who found us through TripAdvisor) suggested that I start getting vineyards and domaines onto TA and helping them use the site.  So that’s our next big step.  After harvest, I’m going to see how many Languedoc Roussillon vineyards we can get on the site.  With something like 3000 wineries in the region, I’ve got my work cut out for me!

This is part of an ongoing series about places to visit near Carcassonne.

Small wineries and vineyards around Carcassonne, often lack the infrastructure to receive tourists year round.  This post will attempt to list some of the wineries that are well-known in the area for receiving visitors regularly.

If you’d like to visit a particular estate (eg your favorite producer), it’s often a good idea to call ahead of time to make sure the winemaker is available to receive you and taste through some wines.  But if you’re fine visiting a winery you’re unfamiliar with, here is a list of folks open to last minute visitors.

Wineries really near to Carcassonne:

O’Vineyards – Directions from the castle – This is my family vineyard and we’re generally happy to receive people year round.  It’s always best to call before hand because we are a working vineyard and could be busy. It’s convenient to book one of our wine & food experience on our detailed website . We receive dozens of last minute visitors each year. Visiting us is fun because you’ll actually hang out with the winemakers.  We’re also native English speakers and we enjoy sharing with people who know very little about wine.  So don’t be intimidated!

885 Avenue de la Montagne Noire
11620 Villemoustaussou
33 (0)6 30 18 99 10

Chateau Pennautier – Directions from the castle – A prestigious estate north of Carcassonne that has a tour of the chateau as well as wine tastings.  They have staff dedicated to these tour groups so you can show up without any reservations.

2 boulevard Pasteur
11610 Pennautier
33 (0)4 68 72 65 29 ?

Wineries closer to Narbonne:

L’Hospitalet – This is a bit farther away in La Clape (by Narbonne), and it’s a bit more of a gift shop tour.  But what’s cool is that it unites wines from all of Gerard Bertrand’s properties in the Languedoc Roussillon.  So in one place, you’ll get to taste wines from lots of different parts of the region.  And Narbonne might be worth a day trip anyway.

Route de Narbonne plage
20409 11104 NARBONNE
33 (0) 4 68 45 28 50
resa@gerard-bertrand.com

Le Bouis – This one is near Narbonne too and has a cool restaurant.  It’s technically in the Corbieres but it’s not lost in the mountains to the south.  It’s in Gruissan, really close to the coast and makes an easy addition to a Narbonne day trip.  You might also consider seeing the salt flats in Gruissan after visiting the winery.

Route Bleue
11430 Gruissan
33 (0)4 68 75 25 25

Wineries in the mountains of the Corbieres

Driving to these wineries will take some time as they are in the mountains (see map of corbieres wineries).  But this can be a gorgeous road trip.  Avoid the motorway and take the small mountain roads.  But don’t drink too much or you won’t be able to drive back! 😀

Embres & Castelmaure – This cooperative winery has some great wines and display them at the gift shop.  You can do the tasting for free but they only do winery tours if you make a reservation.

4, route des canelles
11360 Embres & Castelmaure
33 (0)4 68 45 91 83

Mont Tauch – Same deal.  A great cooperative winery where you can taste the wines for free, but winery tours must be booked ahead of time and are generally reserved for larger groups.

Les Vignerons Du Mont Tauch
11350 Tuchan
33 (0)4 68 45 41 08

I’ve written about a few other cool wineries in the Corbieres, but you might have to call ahead for some of them.

This is a list of Cabardes vineyards that provide bed & breakfast services or other lodging options north of Carcassonne.

Of course, if you want to stay at a vineyard, I strongly recommend staying at O’Vineyards Bed & Breakfast.

But this post includes all the options for staying with winemakers in the Cabardes.

Why stay in Cabardes?

The Cabardes is a gorgeous region of France that is very close to the historic medieval castle of Carcassonne.  Proximity to the Cité makes the Cabardes a perfect vacation area because it means you can visit the Cité de Carcassonne, the Canal du Midi, and benefit from all the amenities of Carcassonne.  There’s a train station and an International airport (almost exclusively RyanAir flights though).  You’re less than hour’s drive from the Mediterranean coast, about an hour from Toulouse, about an hour and a half from Montpellier, and a couple of hours from the Pyrenees.

I should also mention you’ll be surrounded by delicious wine!!  🙂

The Cabardes AOC is small, dominated by independent wine producers, and features a unique blend of Mediterranean and Atlantic grape varietals.

Vineyard B&B, gites, and other lodging

O’Vineyards Bed & Breakfast – Villemoustaussou

4 elegantly furnished B&B rooms with direct view on the vines.  You’ll be sharing the building with us, a Franco-American family with a small vineyard and winery just north of Carcassonne.  We’re very happy to host, and we have a full range of high end red wines.

Ventaillole, Ventenac Cabardes

B&B on an organic vineyard in Ventenac Cabardes.

Domaine des Homs

Technically, this is in the Minervois but I thought I’d mention it since the winemakers also produce some Cabardes and these two appellations are close neighbors that share the south-facing slope of the Montagne Noire.  This is a gorgeous house in the center of their Minervois property and the adjacent photo shows how the vines creep across the front of the property.

Auzias – Pennautier

A gite with view on the winery. Red, white and rose wines.

Cazaban Gites – Conques sur Orbiel / Villegailhenc

4 gites located on a small organic vineyard.  Red and rose wines.

• Le Mas de Cazaban
• Jours de Vigne
• Les petites Rangées
• Demoiselle Claire

Rayssac –

Rayssac used to have gites, but I don’t know if the new owner maintains them anymore.  The website has changed significantly recently so watch this space.

Chateau Pennautier properties – Pennautier

The de Lorgerils have a lot of different properties and gite offers.

• Chateau Pennautier
• Chateau de Ciffre
• Domaine de Garille
• La Bastide RougePeyre

It’s the end of carnavale. Carnaval? Whichever way it’s spelled, the masked dancing is hilarious.

Also, it means that I’ve had lots of themed meals built around cassoulet and sad clowns dancing down the streets of Limoux. Aude is home of the longest carnaval celebration on the planet. (Maybe a bit too long?) We go from January til March with six parades every weekend.

The video above is from an excellent dinner I had at Chateau Pennautier where the CIVL hired a banda and some dancers to lead us in some carnaval shenanigans at the end of the meal.

While Carnaval is wonderful (and that dinner was especially great), I can only take so many brass bands… so I’m happy to say that it’s over. Sunday is the Fete des Rameaux. The weekend of Toques et Clochers!

Toques et Clochers is a big auction of single vineyard Chardonnay produced by Sieur d’Arques.  They also do a big party in one of the towns that produces the wine, and they rennovate a local church tower with the money raised by the auction.

Earlier this year, I got a sneak peak at the barrel samples, and they were very exciting.

I’m looking forward to this weekend to see how those barrels are coming along.

This weekend’s Toques et Clochers 2011 schedule:

PROGRAMME TOQUES ET CLOCHERS 2011

Bonjour,

Voici le programme de la 22ème Édition de Toques et Clochers :

-10h :    Ouverture des Caveaux de Dégustation des «AOC Limoux»  Sieur d’Arques : Vins Toques et Clochers millésime 2009 et Première Bulle

-10h30 : Célébration en l’honneur de la Basilique rénovée Notre-Dame-de-Marceille

-15h : Inauguration officielle : «Cortège et Défilé des Vignerons du Sieur d’Arques et Parade Limouxine»

Points de Restauration,
Animation de rues,
Musique

Entrée obligatoire 1verre : 5€
Accès à la fête par navette :

Quartier du Paradou
Départ Limoux, route de Carcassonne
Départ Couiza, devant La Poste

Accès à la Basilique :
Départ Limoux, Allée des Marronniers

Vous trouverez ci-joint ce mail l’affiche de Toques et Clochers de cette année.

I’ll be in Paris for Vin 2.0 tomorrow.  It should be a lot of fun.  There’s a big conference during the day and a live tasting at night and we’ve added my O’Syrah to the tasting list.  Feel free to follow along online, tweeting or adding reviews to Naked Wines, CellarTracker, Corkd, VinoGusto, Adegga, or any other social network you belong to. 🙂

The tasting takes place at
20h00-22h00
December 8th, 2010

hashtag:
#levin20

facebook page

NO VISIT TO THE SOUTH OF FRANCE would be complete without a trip to the Languedoc-Roussillon region, where you’ll find a combination of hilltop vineyards, Mediterranean beaches, and a panoply of France’s most beautiful medieval villages.

–Ryan O’Connell, Tampa Bay Magazine NOV/DEC 2010 p. 141

Add one more thing to the list of jobs winemakers do when they’re not making wine.  I’m now a published travel writer too!

Tampa Bay Magazine has posted a couple of stories about the Languedoc-Roussillon region and one of them was written by me.  Although they did edit a bit, insisting on some flattering photo captions and more info about O’Vineyards (and employing an alternate spelling of cassoulet).  But the point is that it’s awesome for the region to get its name out there in a positive light, and I can’t wait to write more articles like this.  I hope lots of people come across it while planning their next trip.

Read the full articles in PDF format:                                                                                                           (warning: big files!)

• Wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon Region – The Gateway to the Mediterranean by Ryan O’Connell (~3 Mo)
• AN ANCIENT FORTRESS – Carcassone, France by Margaret Word Burnside and Aaron R. Fodiman (~5 Mo)

If there are particular magazines that you think I should submit to, please let me know!  They can be lifestyle, airline, travel, food, or whatever!  The Languedoc Roussillon is so vast, there’s almost always an excuse to write about it.

Here’s the full text of my wine article if you’re having trouble downloading/opening the PDFs.

WINES OF THE LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON REGION
The Gateway to the Mediterranean
By Ryan O’Connell
Photography by Noraa

NO VISIT TO THE SOUTH OF FRANCE
would be complete without a trip to the
Languedoc-Roussillon region, where you’ll find
a combination of hilltop vineyards, Mediterranean
beaches, and a panoply of France’s most beautiful
medieval villages. The region derives its richness
directly from this great geographical, cultural and
historic diversity. At first glance, this great expanse
of land (over 10,500 square miles) may seem a little
disconnected, as it incorporates the Catalan villages
of the Pyrenees Orientales, the medieval castles of
the Pays Cathare, the rocky foothills of the Massif
Central, and the Roman amphitheaters to the west
of the Rhone River. However, it is this immense
diversity which nurtured the creativity and bravery
of troubadours, monks and knights from once
upon a time in the same way that it fosters daring
winemakers, chefs and travelers today. While Paris
might be the most notable part of France, this softspoken
region to the south has quietly provided
some of France’s richest cultural heritage for over
a millennia.

It is difficult to pick a city that best represents
this area. But if you need a landmark that typifies
the region’s colorful, storied past, as well as its great
present developments, I would choose the medieval
walled city of Carcassonne. This remarkably preserved
castle town exemplifies the Languedoc’s respect for
its past and cultural heritage. Nearly four million
people a year explore the meandering cobbled
roads, within its epic stone walls, that span nearly
two miles.

[photo caption]
Liz, Ryan and Joe O’Connell are at
home at their O’Vineyards Winery in
the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.

It’s no wonder that every child in France
learns about these ramparts in grade
school, as each and every stone is filled
with character. In the summertime, in a
unique tribute to the past, musicians from
every continent and genre play to a small
audience in the amphitheater behind the
cathedral. This year, Bob Dylan, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, Motorhead, a full rendition
of Carmen and other musical legends
performed there. And, although each of
these musicians is quite different, they all
agreed to return to this place where the
troubadour singers once ruled and their
songs of courtly love were born.
The modern musicians are all seduced
by the stage in Carcassonne, due in part
to the massive preservation efforts that
date back to the 1860s to make the castle
and its surroundings one of the world’s
best-preserved examples of medieval
architecture and defenses. As you look
through the narrow slits of its zig-zagging
ramparts and gaze out across the terra
cotta rooftops of the homes that surround
the castle, the immense weight of history
is palpable to all.

However, the castle is not just a reminder
of the past. It is also a place filled with
countless quiet moments, where you
can enjoy the present, as cool winds flow
through charming patios and gardens.

The Hotel de la Cité, a five star hotel in the
heart of the castle, was a former abbey and
is managed with a charm and eccentricity
appropriate to the site. You can savor lunch
or dinner at one of its restaurants, Chez
Saskia, a narrow brasserie that protrudes
into an intersection of cobbled streets. The
building feels as if it had grown there
as an offshoot of the abbey, when the
castle population expanded in the early
part of the last millennium. The meals
there showcase the huge variety of fresh
ingredients available in the region. On the
patio behind the hotel, you can enjoy
Blanquette de Limoux, a sparkling wine
from the region that historians believe
to be older than the more well-known
champagne. This gives the region a claim
to the invention of sparkling white wines,
preceding Dom Perignon, the monk who
made a splash in the Champagne region
with his eponymous fizz. It is probably
no coincidence that Dom Perignon was
stationed in a cloister in the Languedoc
before he moved to the monastery in the
Champagne region of France. Records
show that a few bottles of white wine in the
cellar had a surprising amount of bubbles
in them in 1531, when this discovery led the
monks of Limoux to perfect the process
of making their centuries-old sparkling
wine.

While certain microclimates like Limoux
are perfect for growing the white grapes
that go into Blanquette de Limoux, the
Languedoc-Roussillon region is best known
for its rich red wines, such as the ones
produced at O’Vineyards, an estate near
Carcassonne in the foothills of la Montagne
Noire, which my parents, Liz and Joe, own
and operate with me. Due to the vineyard’s
unique position in the region’s Atlantic
Corridor, we have been able to create bold,
fresh wines with varietals like Merlot
and Cabernet Sauvignon, which are
traditionally found in wine regions with
cooler climates, such as Bordeaux.

[photo caption]
The vineyards in the Languedoc-
Roussillon region enjoy winds from the
Mediterranean to the east and cool
breezes from the Atlantic to the west.

[photo caption]
The tasting room at O’Vineyards
has a relaxed, hospitable feeling
that allows guests to linger and
savor the winery’s offerings.

From the tasting room at O’Vineyards,
you will want to travel west along the
Canal du Midi, a 17th Century canal, that
allowed French boats to travel from the
Atlantic to the Mediterranean without
the dangerous month-long voyage on
the pirate-infested waters of the Iberian
Peninsula. The 150-mile-long canal is filled
with small vacation boats that peacefully
float along its length and through its
locks.

Other outstanding wines in the region
are made from varietals more typical to the
Mediterranean, such as a Grenache Gris
from l’Oustal Blanc and Grenache Noir
from Château le Bouïs in the Corbieres. In
the beautiful village of Gruissan, that sits
on the Mediterranean shore, you can
enjoy tasting Château le Bouïs’ Romeo
and Juliet wines, that are alike in dignity
and showcase the well-paired elegance
and fruit of Languedoc wines. It’s easy to
taste the Mediterranean sunshine in
these rich and delicate wines.

The great beauty of this region is also
derived from its impressive diversity.
You can ski in the morning and go to the
beach in the afternoon. The Languedoc-
Roussillon has long been a meeting point
between the cultures of the ancient
Occitan and Catalan worlds that merge
on the borders of France and Spain,
giving the region its wonderful reputation
for wine and cuisine. The Languedoc-
Roussillon region, which once served as a
gateway for Crusaders, is today home to
some of the finest wines in the world.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ryan O’Connell grew up
in Tampa and moved to France with his parents
after his graduation from college to create
their O’Vineyards Winery. Since then, he has
become an ambassador for the Languedoc-
Roussillon region and has created a video blog,
www.lovethatlanguedoc.com, and a Twitter
site, “languedocjetaim.”He is a noted speaker
on both the wines of France and the affect of
the internet on wineries, with particular
emphasis on the Mobile Web. If you are in the
South of France, he would love to give you a
personal tour of his family’s winery, while his
mom Liz whips up a few of her spectacular
specialties in the kitchen for you to enjoy in
their tasting room. Ryan can be contacted at
www.ovineyards.com.