Minervois is an appellation for distinctive red wines from the western Languedoc region of France. In general, they are softer than those produced in the Corbières, just to the South. The Minervois appellation also covers rosé and white wines. The predominant Grape varieties used in AOC Minervois wines are Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
Together with the rarer Lledoner Pelut (or Lladoner Pelut), they must make up at least 60% of the blend. Carignan and Cinsaut are Part of the supporting wines that can represent 40% of the blend. The white wines of the appellation vary considerably in quality and style. They are made from the grape varieties Vermentino, Roussanne, Marsanne, Bourboulenc and Grenache Blanc.
Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest red grape varieties in Bordeaux. The Libourne region is its terroir where it develops best. The terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Fronsac allow it to mature and develop its best range of aromas. It is also the majority in many blends. The very famous Château Cheval Blanc, for example, uses 60% Cabernet Franc. The wines produced with Cabernet Franc are medium in colour with fine tannins and subtle aromas of small red fruits and spices. When blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it brings complexity and a bouquet of aromas to the wine. It produces fruity wines that can be drunk quite quickly, but whose great vintages can be kept for a long time. It is an earlier grape variety than Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it is planted as far north as the Loire Valley. In Anjou, it is also used to make sweet rosé wines. Cabernet Franc is now used in some twenty countries in Europe and throughout the world.
red wines from the region of Minervois go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, pasta or veal such as recipes of pasta bolognese, pasta with zucchini or provencal veal tendrons.
On the nose in the region of Minervois often reveals types of flavors of microbio, earth or oak and sometimes also flavors of black fruit, red fruit or spices. In the mouth in the region of Minervois is a powerful with a nice balance between acidity and tannins.
The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...
The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...
The focus of the symposium, unsurprisingly, was on the challenges posed by climate change. As if to illustrate the immediacy of the threat, the symposium took place during a heatwave, with temperatures of over 40°C in Bordeaux and extreme weather events recorded across the coountry: parts of southwest France saw violent storms and winds of 112kph on the evening of 20 June, while vineyards across the Médoc and St-Emilion were damaged by hailstones ‘the size of golfballs’. As Olivier Bernard of D ...
