Personalities

Michel Julien: There are serious wines in Languedoc
"Vinnaya Karta" №10 (69) November 2005

About forty producers of Languedoc and Roussillon came to September regional tasting in Moscow.

One of them agreed to discuss current situation and problems of Languedoc.

- What is happening in Languedoc today?

- I consider that at the moment Languedoc is one of the, if not, the most attractive regions in France. Because of the weather, because of our varieties we make both New World and Old World style. Our approach is to create very flavoured wines, easy drinking. They also have beautiful tannins and good acidity. They can be drank between the meals as Anglo-Saxons do, as an aperitif, our with a meal. We still have very attractive prices. I consider it a pity we are not so well known in the world. It’s our fault, maybe, we have communication problems, but we need to do better.

- Yes, we do. It’s very true that when we are facing wine lovers, journalists, people interested in wine, we work better.

- There is a stereotype that Languedoc produces only cheap table and regional wines, that you do not have serious winemaking.

- Languedoc is producing 15 million hectolitres. Six-seven million of them are vins de pays and only one million is appellation wines. The rest is table wines. 80 to 90 percent of vines de pays are sold for export. It is very true that at the moment we are better known through VdP than the appellations.

I do not agree with you at all when you say that we do not produce serious wines. When I say serious, I do not mean boring wines. I mean they are very-very interesting. Many chateaux have yields at 25 hl/ha and even less. I sell my best cuvee for 15 euros, and the yields are 17 hl/ha. So we do have beautiful wines in appellations — with nice concentration, exact wood, with a lot of fruit. I think we honestly deserve to be discovered. I say not to be known, but to be discovered.

- What varieties and soils are capable of producing great wines of Languedoc?

- The most serious wines are produced a bit far from the sea, near the mountains. There they are able to have both maturity and acidity. Geologically Languedoc is very rich in different soils. We use schist, lime and clay. These soils are the most interesting. Syrah needs lime and clay. Grenache gives wonderful results with schist. It often happens that in the same estate you are able to find 3-5 types of soil. So you can make a real mosaic of varieties very well adapted to the soil.

Speaking of the grapes, their performance depends on the area. In general, there’s been an arrival of Syrah. Before winemaking came from a monoculture of 95 percent of Carignan. Now we have Carignan representing probably 35% of the area, the rest has been mostly replaced by Syrah and Grenache.

- Languedoc went through the period when majority of people were not thinking of making wine. They were thinking of producing grapes. It was forty years ago. We try to make people forget this era. We were in the period of wines of Midi. Now time for Languedoc wines has come.

- You have not said anything about white varieties yet.

- Languedoc is wonderful place for white wines. Different from the Rhone, different from the Loire Valley, different from Bordeaux. But I would say, we still have to find our identity. We are not well treated by INAO. They forbid us to use some varieties, like Viognier. And it is one of the first wines of the area. Of course, we don’t want to copy wines of Condrieu because they are producing single variety Viognier. I consider that 20-40 percent of Viognier in the blend gives us something extraordinary. All the slopes at the Pyrenees have beautiful places for white wines.

- The spirit of the appellation is to make blends. I think things could be better if the region was organized with single varieties in Languedoc and blends came an appellation — as something special, something different. I do not think that single variety should be solution for the appellation, because now when you arrive in the market with Syrah or Chardonnay or Merlot or Cabernet people say they have plenty of them. And when we arrive with a blend, a special blend, with history, people are much fonder of that area.

- How true is it about your winery?

- Chateau Villerambert Julien is a rather old estate, there are mentions of vines planted in 1231. My family took it over in mid-nineteenth century. We have always been involved in quality and are one of the quality leaders of Minervois. We have around 80 hectares. There is a small production of white, wiht very good Roussanne, Marsanne and — unofficially — Viognier. We have rose the production for which is increasing because there is a huge trend for the rose in the world. In Russia it is not yet there, but it will come one day. Quality roses offer good value. With the reds, our wines have high concentration. The yields are very low, between 35-40 hectolitres. Our top cuvees are at 17 hl/ha.

- Villerambert Julien has rather large vineyards but produces a limited range of wines. Why?

- When people like a product, they should be able to find it easily. If I had 20 names, people would be lost. I much prefer to have, for instance, 3-4 red wines well profiled and then to find customers for them. On the other hand, it’s not good to find a wine one day for 5 euros, next day for 15. I prefer to have a steady strategy with wines.

- Are there any secrets with vinification?

- My philosophy is very simple — to do the hugest work at the vineyard, to be as lazy as possible in the cellar. It is a joke, but I mean to convey that when you have great fruit you are only worried how to restitute the fruit, and not to make body-builder wines. The only way to work in cellar is not to disturb the grapes, to be as smooth as possible with everything. That includes aging. Syrah requires barrels as it needs air. But new wood at a certain moment can change the wine. I do not want that. I want to improve the wine without losing its personality, so I use very low proportions of wood.

- Our wines naturally have a lot of fruit and alcohol. The most important thing is to keep it in balance. If the grapes are picked at 12 degrees without phenolic maturity, there will be now equilibrium. When polyphenols are ripe, the wine is balanced a lot better, in spite of high alcohol.