“The vines are everywhere” That is the visitor’s first impression and they certainly dominate the landscape of the Languedoc which produces over a third of French wine. For many years it produced poor quality table wine, but all that has changed. Huge investment during the 1970’s has resulted in the production of high quality appellation wines. Hugh Johnson in his 1997 Pocket Wine book mentions the Cave Cooperative at Roquebrun, one of the most picturesque wine villages in the south, as one of the two best producers in the whole of the Languedoc.

The picturesque wine village of Roquebrun

Because of the distances involved, it was necessary to build small buildings, called mazets, where he could shelter and sometimes overnight. These small shelters can still be seen dotted amongst the vines, and are a picturesque addition to the landscape, and still often used at the time of the grape harvest.

The Languedoc is a region spread over more than 30,000 square kilometers, covering eight departments; Herault, Lozere, Tarn, Aude, Gard, Ariege, Haute-Garonne, and Pyrenees Oreientales. In the past it had its own language, the ‘langue d’oc’ and the remnants of this can still be seen in the area with many streets and villages having dual names. Until the 1950’s every vigneron worked the land with horses and donkeys.

The vignerons year starts at the end of the normal calendar year with the pruning of the vines. This is a slow, laborious but skilled task that takes several months to complete, between November and March. The sarment or branches are pruned in two stages. The vigneron first cuts away the main length of the branch to clear space for the more critical pruning when the best shoots are pruned in preparation for the next year’s growth. During the pruning period, the individual vignerons can be seen working alone, well clothed against the chill winds, and often pulling behind him, a machine known as a locomotive or brouette. This is normally half an oil barrel, cut lengthways from top to bottom and mounted on wheels. Its purpose is for burning the branches of the vines as he moves through the vineyard, and is useful too for keeping warm. It is not unknown for the vigneron to barbeque his midday meal on the embers at the bottom of the barrel. This period is a test of the tenacity of the vigneron as it is a cold and lonely task.

January and February are the months for replacing vines that may have died during the previous year. The long roots set down by the plant in search of water make it necessary to adopt extraordinary methods to remove the old vines. Often it is necessary to use explosives to blast out tenacious roots!

Vines are sprayed with copper sulphate and dusted with sulphur and that continues into May. June is the time for the pruning of branches that may be a nuisance when passing between the vines during the next months. This has to be done carefully as the flowering season is well under way and the young grapes are forming. The vines do not like disturbance at this time. Treatment with copper sulphate and sulphur continues. July is a quiet moment for the vines when the formed fruit beings to swell, but some treatment is still necessary if there is rain. August is the start of the harvest of table grapes. These form a small part of the total grape harvest. Movement between the vines is kept to a minimum at this time so as not to damage the grapes, but at the end of the month the vignerons starts to control the maturity of the grapes and tests with a spectrograph the sugar content and hence the expected alcohol content of the grapes. September starts in a frenzy of preparation, getting equipment ready for the start of the harvest or vendanges. In the past the whole family came to help and large numbers of casual workers arrived in special trains from nearby Spain. The same workers arrived year after year and any absentee replaced by other family members as a matter of honour so that the vigneron was not short of help. Nowadays mechanisation in many areas has reduced the need to import labour, except for the more hilly areas such as Roquebrun, where the terrain is inaccessible to machines. The vendanges is a festive but tiring season, lasting from mid September to mid October, when groups of grape pickers can be seen moving between the vines. The day is hard, spent doubled up, and the danger of cutting fingers with secateurs in the search for grapes hidden deep within the foliage is high. Porteurs struggle with laden comportes, (large plastic containers that were once made of wood) to vehicles waiting to take the harvest to the cave where the grapes will be transformed into the liquid known to man for thousands of years, and which is only now being recognized as such a valuable aid to health. The grape pickers’ evening is spent in renewing old friendships from previous years. The final day of the vendanges for each vignerons is celebrated with a meal en famille before the break up of the team until next year. A short rest follows this before the vignerons year starts all over again.

It has always been said that the best wines are those with the AOC appellation. Because of the strict regulations in the making of these wines many people are now saying that it has restricted the wine farmers craft and many of the best wines are now being produced as Vin de Table. Some very good wines are now being sold en vrac (i.e.in bulk and not pre bottled) by the cooperatives and private wine farmers.

March is the month for clearing weeds from the soil between the vines and removing any new shoots that will perhaps spoil the shape of the vine. The renewal or installation of wires for the vines to twist around it also a consideration at this time. April sees the start of the treatment of the vines against diseases such as mildew, to which the plant is prone. For this reason many vignerons in the past, planted roses at the end of each row. The rose, being even more susceptible, gave an early warning of impending problems, and in some vineyards it is still possible to see this practice.