The Winery Extreme Gris of Languedoc of Languedoc-Roussillon

We all have different motives in choosing wine. There are those hoping for a journey into unexplored regions of sublime sensation, and those with earthier desires, happy when the first glass has them seeing double. There are wines to accommodate them both: a prickly little Mosel on the one hand and a 15% Barolo on the other. Doesn’t the ideal wine, though, combine the two – inspiration with stimulus, perfume with punch? The three little letters ‘abv’ (alcohol by volume) only tell half the story, ...

While some people prefer to avoid restaurants altogether on Valentine’s Day, for others it’s the perfect excuse to enjoy a romantic evening out. For wine lovers, finding venues with a great selection of bottles is an added bonus. Whether you’re after prestige Bordeaux and classic vintages or interesting and quirky bottles from less well-known producers, the selection below gives you plenty of options. We also tell you what to expect from the wine list in each venue. From Michel ...

Layers of colour in the sky before me: indigo, peach, salmon. In the rear-view mirror, the gold was catching fire. As I drove down through the lonely, Mistral-chilled vines of Babeau-Bouldoux towards nearby St-Chinian, I was thinking about what Christine Deleuze of Clos Bagatelle had just said. ‘When you came to visit 10 years ago,’ she reminded me, ‘you said we needed to wait another decade for a market breakthrough. Today you’ve said we need to wait another decade or two. So when, exactly, wil ...