Pic Saint-Loup, southern France
Pic Saint-Loup is a mountain in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France, about twenty kilometres from Montpellier. If you are young and fit like my good friend Gilles, you will not fear spending one hour clambering up the 658 metres of this rocky mountain. The photos of Pic Saint-Loup under sunshine were taken from the Internet.
The foothills of Pic Saint-Loup are covered in vineyards of principally the Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre grape varieties. In a landscape of garrigue and pine forest, the vines cover about 1,200 hectares. The appellation of Pic Saint-Loup was only fully recognised in 2017, after having long been classified as “coteaux du Languedoc”.
I heard it said that the vines Pic Saint-Loup are very good, but the winemakers much less so. But that was not my experience. Indeed, the recognition of this new appellation is due to the work and passion of dynamic winegrowers who have managed to exploit a unique terroir to make Pic-Saint-Loup a great wine.
I drank a 2023 Chateau de Lascours red over a delicious lunch of oysters and Bouillabaisse. It is a blend of the Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache grape varieties.
The wine had a wonderful balance of fruit, acid and tannin, and I would recommend it to those who like young, fresh red wines. But apparently, it is also a wine for laying down, and its ageing potential can exceed 10 years.
Lascours has been a family run Domaine for four generations, and has 35 ha of vineyard. They claim that during the summer months when the grapes are ripening, the contrast in temperature between day and night stimulates a sophisticated development of the polyphenols which give the wines their special character.
The opinion of “Vignapart” is: “The Nobilis cuvée of Château Lascours is a gastronomic red wine that is ideal for your end-of-year meals. animal, spicy and fruity at first sight, it is elegant and supple on the palate. These aromas of red fruits accompanied by subtle notes of liquorice and leather make this Pic Saint Loup a wine of high flight..” While I only had the opportunity of tasting a red wine, apparently the rosés are also worth discovering.
Pic Saint-Loup is another regional wine, produced in relatively small quantities, which is difficult to find in Paris, and next to impossible to find overseas. So do yourself a favour, and visit this lovely area.