Less than 20 minutes from O’Vineyards. (includes time for parking outside the castle and walking to the restaurant)
Price range: 100+ €
The michelin starred restaurant within the castle walls of Carcassonne describes itself as:
The atmosphere in La Barbacane is one of charm and elegance –from its beautiful wood panelled interior and stained glass windows to the enchanting view.
La Barbacane offers a wide range of tempting dishes, created with imagination, flair and artistry. Executive Chef, Jérôme Ryon and Pastry Chef, Régis Chanel, put forth a sophisticated and skilful re-thinking of traditional French cuisine while using ingredients of the highest quality.
La Barbacane received its first Michelin star in 2002, and maintains the same level of excellence today. It remains the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the medieval citadel.
During the holidays, the medieval Cité de Carcassonne quiets down a lot. The best restaurants stay open year-round because they cater to local clients and can stay open even during the slowed down winter months. We had a marvelous dinner a few nights ago at La Barbacane, the Michelin starred restaurant in l’Hotel de la Cité.
Hotel de la Cité – La Barbacane
We got there a little early (typical Americans) and chilled out in the Piano Lounge / Library area (where the bar is). They started me off with a nice glass of sparkling rosé from Castelmaure while we waited for our hosts, the Lablaudes. We nibbled on lucques (local olives) and a few exotic tidbits to start us (e.g. endives, anchovies, radishes, trout egg). Everything was light and fun and made us hungry for more as we lounged about in the piano bar enjoying the live music.
Jérome Ryon, the chef, and Georges Gracia, the manager and sommelier, guided us through a wonderful and surprising meal.
We started with a shrimp-stuffed jack be little, a small yellow-orange gourd. It looks like a tiny pumpkin (think bell pepper-sized). It was a hefty appetizer but I can deal with a little heft. And it paired wonderfully with a surprising Chenin blanc from Saumur that really cut through the fattier elements of the jack be little. Truly tasty. Next up, scallops on a thin pastry garnished in some sort of wonderful sauces and paired with a blend from Rives Blanques. The dish was garnered with some cabbage and quince confit. And then duck as the plat de resistance paired with a robust Minervois from Chateau Oupia.
And we finished off with a nice citron sorbet and a startling white from Maury.
Everything was fresh and top notch.
La Barbacane sometimes gets pigeonholed as the more conservative fine dining destination in Carcassonne, with a greater focus on traditional haute cuisine. But this meal showed that Jérome is very creative when you give him room to breathe.
The wine list
We started off with a sparkling rosé from Castelmaure.
AOC Saumur Domaine du Collier 2005 “A Foucault” à Chacé
AOC Limoux Chateau Rives-Blanques 2009 Cuvée “La Trilogie” à Cépie
AOC Minervois Chateau Oupia 2007 Cuvée Mémoire d’André Famille André Iché
And we finished off with a surprising white from Maury.
Of course, as a wine nerd, one of the coolest parts of the meal is to see how Georges Gracia pairs the various courses with wines. He chose a lot from the region because he knows how I roll, but he also gave me at least one surprise from the Loire. And what a surprise! We started and ended with whites from regions that are much more known for their red wines: Saumur and Maury. And I have to say I’m very pleased with both. The Saumur was Chenin although I wouldn’t have guessed that blind. It had sort of a burnt pear nose that was pretty restrained and then a really intereting body. I think it was perfect to start off the meal and cut through some of the fat on the pumpkin. The Maury at the end was a real shocker too. Delicious sweet wine that could compete with this very tart citron sorbet. Any wine lovers who eat at the Cité should try to get one of the very talented sommeliers to guide them through a meal. It’s a real experience for any foodie.
It has recently come to my attention that a lot of Japanese people are talking about my wine without popping into my google alerts. It’s probably related to the differences in language. Even though they usually write the brand in roman characters, there are often kanji suffixes or other weird linguistic quirks (e.g. o’vineyardsは).
Anyway, I did some active searching and found a lot of people talking about the wines. A few highlights:
A little tweeted tasting note. I’m ridiculously fascinated by reviews I cannot read. Google translate’s best effort approximates the review to “good easily”. Love it. Love that people are out there tasting the Mediterranean Mojo 2006.
And then there’s e-American. An online shopping site that offers deals on my Mojo.
But the big player online is Rakuten who are an enormous online retailer. They bought out PriceMinister earlier this year. And they put together this amazing banner that shows the Japanese are as enchanted as we are with the medieval Cité de Carcassonne.
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!)
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.
As you might know, Carcassonne has one of France’s largest fireworks displays on the 14th of July to celebrate Bastille Day. The city organizes this enormous display where they blast off thousands of fireworks from the medieval castle ramparts and you can see it from miles around. Thousands of people line up along the banks of the River Aude and the Canal du Midi to watch from up close. My parents usually have a little shindig up at the vineyard where we have a nice, private view of the fireworks.
This year, I was in the castle while they were setting up the display and I snapped a few pictures. Truckloads of PVC pipes are wheeled into the castle days before the celebration so that all the fireworks are ready to be shot off.
The castle is one of those uniquely French tourist attractions where there are no real rules or a “sense de la visite”. It’s just an epic castle town and you wander around it. It doesn’t really have open hours or anything and you can show up whenever you like and do whatever you want. So it’s strange to see this period before Bastille Day where there is a lot of security making sure people don’t mess with the fireworks as they are being set up.
So YouTube (which is owned by Google) has a tool that lets you make movies out of your Google searches. It’s pretty primitive, but it’s a fun way to spend a few minutes. errrr.. scratch that, 35 minutes. Damn it. Now I have to go back to work.
Oh well, here is the story of a person trying to research cool wine related stuff near Carcassonne. And only getting one result over and over. No, I’m not referring to trip advisor. It’s O’Vineyards. The best indie wine estate to visit near Carcassonne.
Search terms used are:
“wine tasting around carcassonne”
“meet a winemaker near carcassonne”
“visit a winery near carcassonne”
“best wines cite de carcassonne”
“make wine around carcassonne”
“vineyard holiday in carcassonne”
If there’s a message to take away from this video, it’s that people aren’t maximizing SEO about wine tourism yet in the Languedoc. The post that turned up in most of these searches was written last Sunday. Gites and Chambres search engine optimization is locked down, but there are tons of wine keywords that are still up for grabs. Especially in English. And Carcassonne is a good example because it receives millions of anglophone tourists every year. And the word on the street is that some of them drink wine.
;D
I know that you know that I lift wires at this time of year. But you know what else I do? Answer a lot of questions from tourists. It seems like I get at least four or five emails each week about travel plans around Carcassonne and in the Languedoc Roussillon in general.
My emails tend to be very personalized based on what languages you speak, where you’re flying into, whether you have a car or not, etc. It’s fun setting people up with really good trips, but it takes a lot of time. And sometimes, people don’t really need super-personalized advice. If you want a few wine travel ideas around Carcassonne, you might just want to check out Wink Lorch’s Wine Travel Guide – Ideal One-Day Itinerary.
Wink tends to pick places that are equipped to greet you in English. And for these short one or two day trips, the estates often have restaurants or rooms to stay in so you don’t need to spend half of your wine holiday in a car looking for a poorly marked country road.
The One-Day and Two-Day trips around Carcassonne have really good ideas. Like a short run down to Limoux where you can visit small indie estates and then go to Gayda for a nice meal and a place to stay. That trip’s especially nice if you have a spouse or travel partner that only drinks white wine. Or you could do a quick jump north and visit Pennautier who also have a restaurant, rooms, etc. I would naturally add that while you’re already in Pennautier, you should hop over to O’Vineyards . . . OF COURSE. 🙂 I’m just a few kilometers away and I’d really love to see you.
Also, if you’re planning your trip on a Sunday, good luck. You’re best off emailing me. ryan@ovineyards.com
And I’m going to steal this idea of an ideal one-day itinerary if you’re looking to spend a day around Carcassonne or if you are flying in with RyanAir and have a day to spare before driving to your next destination.
Ideal One-Day Itinerary
MORNING
Leave Carcassonne, going northwest on the N113 that sort of follows the Canal du Midi. Check out O’Vineyards in Villemoustaussou. 33 (0)6 30 18 99 10
Winery visits include young wine tasting from tanks as well as barrel tastings. Call ahead and we can do a table d’hote where you eat with the winemaker and family. It’s a lot of fun.
AFTERNOON
Then you have two options. You either lounge around the vineyard all day drinking delicious wine and soaking in the countryside vistas, or you can get back in the car and head to another destination.
La Cité de Carcassonne – visit ramparts, have a coffee, just chill out. Whatever you choose to do, you’re doing it in a medieval castle!! How cool is that?
One of our best customers is La Barbacane, the Michelin-starred restaurant in l’Hotel de la Cité in Carcassonne. I was delighted to hear that they’ll also be serving one of our wines in Le Jardin de l’Evêque, the outdoor garden area across from the hotel.
And on top of this great news, they commissioned a painted wine barrel for the special waiting area they’re installing where patrons can enjoy an apperitif and some olives before being seated in the garden.
For those of you who don’t know, I like to paint. I’m more into engravings and prints, but I enjoy picking up a brush from time to time. So it was a pleasure to do some simple castle landscapes on one of my old barrels.
Now, I think the Jardin asked a few other winemakers for barrels. I’ll let you know once they’ve all been installed so we can see who made the prettiest barrel. 🙂
Well, we knew the warmer weather had to come eventually and our beloved merlot is finally off to the races. I don’t know how familiar you happen to be with “normal” Carcassonne weather but I was telling a local that the past couple years we seem to have only 2 seasons. Sping and fall have somehow disappeared. After a little contemplation I came to the conclusion that this recent climate trend has been benificial to our type of winemaking. We have always harvested later than most in our area and this is especially true for the past 2 years when we found ourselves bringing in the grapes at temperatures between 3 to 10 degrees. We keep the grapes at these low temperatures for a few days and find ourselfs with a fresher fruitier wine. Meanwhile the slower starts we have had at the begining of the growing period seem to have little to no effect throughout the vineyard. On the contrary the slow starts have helped us to keep pace easier and have also limited the number of times we treat our vines. In the year 2009 we treated only 2 times and believe me this is well below the norm. As you can see from the photos we finally got the growth I expected a few weeks back. By next week we will need to lift the wires on the trellis sytem,which are designed to keep the growth going upward. I will cover this in detail next week. Thanks for following
Another post from dad as he chronicles the freak snowstorm that we had in the south of France on May 4th. SNOW IN MAY?!
This is Joe the Winemaker with a special bulletin in my continuing coverage of the O’Vineyards Merlot saga.
Normally, these blog updates are weekly. However due to the unprecedented May snow storm, you get two updates this week.
It snowed at O’Vineyards in Carcassonne on May 4th! Unheard of!
People ask, “Should red wine ever be served chilled?” I’m asking if red vines should ever be chilled! We were very worried because there is already a lot of growth on the vines and a late frost could harm them. Additionally, the heavy, wet snow that fell for over an hour could cling to the new growth and break it off. Luckily, the snow failed to cling to the young shoots.
You can see in these photos that the snow mostly stuck to the wooden posts and to the trunks.
By pure speculation (my son calls that “making shit up”) I am going to say the warmth of the ground and stones due to the normally warm temperatures we have experienced over the last two weeks was enough to melt the snow. Anyway, it appears the parcel of Merlot I’m blogging about has escaped any significant damage. But we still have to see how the freeze affects growth over the coming week.
How to find us
Domaine O’Vineyards, located in the North Arrondissement of Carcassonne, is just minutes from the Carcassonne train station, the Medieval City, and the Carcassonne Airport.
GPS coordinates: 43.259622, 2.340387
O’Vineyards
Wine, Dine, Relax at our Boutique Vineyard
Unique thing to do in Carcassonne
Wine Cellar. Winery Visits. Wine Tasting.
Wine & Food Pairing
North Arrondissement of Carcassonne
885 Avenue de la Montagne Noire
11620 Villemoustaussou, France
Tel: +33(0) 630 189 910
Best by GPS.
Follow the signs to Mazamet/ Villemoustaussou using the D118. At the end of the last straight part of D118, you will come to a roundabout with the Dyneff gas station.
Take the exit towards Pennautier. Continue 500m to a small roundabout and go straight over.
Look out for the second road on your right, Avenue des Cévennes which curves up hill (about 1km) to Avenue de la Montagne Noire on the left.
At the last juction, bear left. the road sign “Ave de la Montagne Noire” (confusing as it seems to show a right turn)
After another 500m you will see our red brick color building in the middle of the vines.
This year, I was in the castle while they were setting up the display and I snapped a few pictures. Truckloads of PVC pipes are wheeled into the castle days before the celebration so that all the fireworks are ready to be shot off.
You can see in these photos that the snow mostly stuck to the wooden posts and to the trunks.
By pure speculation (my son calls that “making shit up”) I am going to say the warmth of the ground and stones due to the normally warm temperatures we have experienced over the last two weeks was enough to melt the snow. Anyway, it appears the parcel of Merlot I’m blogging about has escaped any significant damage. But we still have to see how the freeze affects growth over the coming week.