Crémant de Limoux

I like the fact that this wine is very dry. The bubbles are nice and fine, the fruit is youthful, with notes of citrus and pear and there’s an appealing minerality to the finish. Chardonnay does good things in Languedoc sparkling wines.

Fruité Catalan

I’m not a hug fan of the label, or the lurid pink cork, but I supect I’m not the target audience here. The wine is soft and easy drinking, with rosehip and raspberry fruit and pleasant flavours. Could anyone else find the vintage mentioned?

Cigalus

This is consistently among my favourite whites from the south of France: the oak is quite prominent at the moment, but this should settle down in the bottle. The flavours are rich and complex here: peach, honeysuckle, a touch of pear, with vanilla on the aftertaste. It could end up tasting a little heavy, but has lively acidity for balance.

30670

There’s a little bit of reduction on the nose here, but it soon disappears in the glass. The wine is very aromatic, bursting with blackberry, blackcurrant and black cherry friut. I like the garrigue spice and the fact that the wine tastes so obviously Mediterranean. Minty finish with medium weight tannins.

Mas de Madame

Hard to contemplate a South of France tasting without a fortified Muscat. Even though this is a 2006, it still tastes remarkably fresh and grapey: honey and marmalade are the main flavours with nicely handled fortification. It would taste even better with a bowl of strawberries on the first afternoon of Wimbledon.