L'Hérault

[lay-ROH] A large département on the Mediterranean in southern France. It's part of the languedoc-roussillon region, which is often referred to as the Midi. L'Hérault has more vineyards planted than any other French département, but most of the wines produced are very ordinary and make up part of what some call the "European wine lake"-the huge glut of cheap, lackluster wine coming from the warmer regions of France, Spain, and Italy. L'Hérault is undergoing winemaking improvements including implementing stainless steel tanks, using carbonic maceration, and planting more popular varieties like cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, marsanne, merlot, mourvèdre, sauvignon blanc, sémillon and syrah. Other grapes grown in the area include bourboulenc, carignan, grenach, macabeo and muscat. L'Herault has developed popular, quality-winemaking areas in the last 15 years including faugeres ac, saint chinian ac and specific villages like la clape in the côtes du languedoc. One of the standouts in this region is Mas de Daumas Gassac, a producer of very high-quality red wines based on cabernet sauvignon and white wines based on chardonnay and viognier.