Saint-Chinian is an appellation in the Languedoc-roussillon">Languedoc-Roussillon wine region of southern France. It is located between Minervois and Faugeres, which produce similar styles of robust red wine from similar grapes and in a similar landscape. It is also adjacent to the Muscat de Saint-Jean-de-Minervois appellation, which produces Sweet white wines. Therefore, the diversity of the Languedoc region is well demonstrated in this small area.
The AOC Saint-Chinian title was created in 1982, for red and rosé wines only. In 2005, white wines were introduced into the appellation, made from Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Roussanne. Carbonically macerated Carignan used to characterize the production of Saint-Chinian, but it is gradually being replaced by more Complex wines produced from Syrah, Grenache and Lladoner Pelut. Similarly, the quantity of white wine is increasing.
Mainly cultivated in the Languedoc region, carignan originates from Spain. Because of its very resistant branches, it is often called hardwood. Its bunches are quite large. They are compact and winged with a lignified stalk. The berries are spherical in shape and take on a bluish-black colour. Carignan has a total of 25 approved clones, the best known of which are 274, 65 and 9. The carignan buds at the beginning of June and is protected from spring frosts. It does not reach maturity until the third period. Also, this grape variety needs warmth and sunshine. It appreciates dry and not very fertile soils. Carignan vines can live for more than 100 years. Those that are more than 30 years old produce a better wine. This wine is well coloured. It is generous and powerful at the same time. Pepper, cherry, blackberry, banana, raspberry, almond, prune and violet are some of the aromas that this grape variety gives off.
wines from the region of Saint-Chinian go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, pasta or veal such as recipes of lomo saltado, leek and salmon lasagna or chicken with rice for cookeo robot.
On the nose in the region of Saint-Chinian often reveals types of flavors of cherry, stone or apricot and sometimes also flavors of sour cherry, red cherry or raspberry. In the mouth in the region of Saint-Chinian is a powerful with a nice balance between acidity and tannins.
The Roussillon is home to a range of wine styles, at varying price points. Sweet fortified wines (vin doux naturel) used to dominate production, with still dry wines (vin sec) in the minority. In the last 30 years, however, this has completely changed, and vin sec now makes up the majority (80%) of the Roussillon’s output. The recent Wines of Roussillon tasting, held in London, not only highlighted many good quality dry wines being produced, but also cemented the idea that Roussillon whites are ...
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 ...
At the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards, the world’s largest wine competition saw its biggest year to date, with 18,094 wines tasted from 56 countries. Over 15 consecutive days in June 2021, almost 170 expert wine judges, including 44 Masters of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers, awarded 50 Best in Show, 179 Platinum, 635 Gold, 5,607 Silver and 8,332 Bronze medals. Join Decanter at our Fine Wine Encounter NYC this June, where you will have the opportunity to sample 23 of these top awarded Gold, Plati ...
