Place: Languedoc, France

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

food

Wine with Leslie: A wine with a lot to shout about

It is rare that a wine captures the public imagination and achieves cult status, like a handbag or a pair of trainers. Cloudy Bay did it and it was on such strict allocation in the 1990s that off-licences were lucky to receive 12 bottles per year.

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: Best of co-op wines

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: Opening my mind to the grape wine writers love to hate, sauvignon blanc

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: The two very distinctive categories of wine

food

Wine with Leslie Williams: We need to stand up for our favourite drink

food

Wine

Leslie Williams: A tale of two contrasting wine regions

A tale of two contrasting regions this week — Burgundy and Murcia in Eastern Spain.

Sat, 03 Mar, 2018

Wine: Re-discovering the south of France

Back to southern France again this week, as I find myself enjoying the wines from here more and more.

Sat, 09 Dec, 2017

Leslie Williams: Planning ahead for your Christmas wines

Christmas is approaching rapidly and it is wise to begin planning a little and thinking about your wines for the season. 

Sat, 11 Nov, 2017

All wine selections this week are Rosé, including a couple of sparklers

With Cannes in the news these days my thoughts have turned to rosé which is by far the biggest selling wine in this sun-drenched region of France.

Sat, 27 May, 2017

Warm welcome and excellent winemaking wait in Beaujolais

I’m writing about Beaujolais again this week partly because I am finding myself drinking more and more wines from this region and also because I spent a fascinating few days there in early April.

Sat, 13 May, 2017

Wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon region in France

This week I’m taking a snapshot of the Languedoc-Roussillon, easily the most unwieldy wine region in France and arguably the world.

Sat, 18 Feb, 2017

Toast 2016 with these sparkling wine

It’s almost over. I’m not sure there will be many people mourning the passing of 2016 and there is nothing like a bottle of Champagne or decent sparkling wine to wash the bad taste of a year like this away.

Sat, 31 Dec, 2016

These wines are making a debut appearance and are from independent importers

We are at mid-summer point now and the sunshine, up to now, has been rather absent.

Sat, 23 Jul, 2016

Wine: Languedoc

Watching the Euros has got me thinking about French wines so once again this week I’m back in the Languedoc.

Sat, 25 Jun, 2016

Wine: Tasting your way through old cellars

The obituary writers have been busy this year and the case is equally true in the wine world.

Sat, 18 Jun, 2016

Alcohol levels of this week’s wines are all 13% or above

Despite all the words this page has expended on a myriad of wines, the reason we are interested is because they all have one thing in common — “the power to banish care”.

Sat, 09 Apr, 2016

This week’s wines have minimal sulphur, but be warned that these may taste a little different

We need to talk about sulphur. You might have noticed that most bottles say ‘contains sulphites’ somewhere on the label.

Sat, 02 Apr, 2016

Wine: A profile of Gérard Bertrand

This week - a mini profile of Gérard Bertrand, one of the best-known winemakers of the Languedoc, perhaps France’s most dynamic wine region.

Sat, 07 Nov, 2015

Suggestions this week are from O’Briens wines nationwide

I want to begin this week by offering my congratulations to Lynne Coyle MW, wine buyer at O’Briens wines.

Sat, 26 Sep, 2015

Wine: Irish wine drinkers are too polite

Irish wine drinkers are far too polite. I doubt any other consumer sector in any other country would take the same level of abuse from their government so placidly.

Sat, 12 Sep, 2015

The Coravin removes wine from a bottle through the cork via a long needle

Now that there appears be a chink of light at the end of the recession tunnel — given the number of new wine shop and wine bar openings — I thought I would talk gadgets this week.

Sat, 28 Mar, 2015

Wine: Ballymaloe Litfest line-up announced

Still another full week of January to go but I recommend you cheer yourself up by checking out the line-up for the Ballymaloe Litfest which has just been announced.

Sat, 24 Jan, 2015

Wine: Some light wines for post-Christmas period

I am in denial. January can be such a depressing month that I find the best way to get through it is to pretend it isn’t happening and drink light crisp wines like it was summertime.

Sat, 03 Jan, 2015