Hérault IGP

Department in the south of France on the Mediterranean coast with the capital Montpellier in the political region of Occitania. It was named after the river Hérault. It lies between the two départements of Aude (southwest) and Gard (northeast). Like these, it is part of the Languedoc region with the extensive AOC area of the same name. The vineyards cover a total of over 100,000 hectares. In the past, only the simplest of mass wines were produced here, but the quality was significantly improved by the government's decision to clear 30,000 hectares of vineyards in the 1980s. The wines of the famous Mas de Daumas-Gassac winery have contributed to the excellent reputation of IGP wines (formerly Vin de pays). There are numerous AOC areas, some of them very small:

• Cabrières
• Clairette du Languedoc
• Corbières
• Faugères
• Fonséranes
• Grés de Montpellier
• La Méjanelle
• Minervois
• Minervois-La-Livinière
• Montpeyroux
• Muscat de Frontignan
• Muscat de Lunel
• Muscat de Mireval
• Muscat de Saint-Jean de Minervois
• Pézenas
• Picpoul de Pinet
• Pic Saint-Loup
• Saint-Chinian, Saint-Chinian Berlou, Saint-Chinian Roquebrun
• Saint-Christol
• Saint-Drézéry
• Saint-Georges-d'Orques
• Saint-Saturnin
• Terrasses du Larzac

The IGP area covering the whole of the Département of Hérault is called Pays d'Hérault. This name can be supplemented by narrower geographical names (formerly these were independent VdP areas). These are Bénovie, Bérange, Cassan, Cessenon, Collines de la Moure, Coteaux de Bessilles, Coteaux de Fontcaude, Coteaux de Laurens, Coteaux de Murviel, Coteaux du Salagou, Côtes du Brian, Côtes du Ceressou, Mont Baudile, Monts de la Grage, Pays de Bessan and Pays de Caux. Other independent IGP areas are Coteaux de Béziers (formerly known as VdP Coteaux du Libron), Coteaux d'Enserune, Coteaux de Peyriac (can be supplemented with Hauts de Badens), Côtes de Thau (may be supplemented with Cap d'Agde), Côtes de Thongue, Haute Vallée de l'Orb, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (may be supplemented with Val de Montferrand and Cité d'Aniane) and Vicomté d'Aumelas. Hérault is also part of the huge supra-regional IGP area Pays d'Oc.

85% of the red wines produced are Carignan Noir, Cinsaut, Grenache Noir (Garnacha Tinta) and Syrah, with smaller proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The white wines are blended from the Clairette, Grenache Blanc (Garnacha Blanca), Macabeo and Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano Toscano) varieties. Well known producers are Château Capion, Domaine d'Aupilhac, Domaine des Deux Platanes, Domaine du Bosc, Domaine Capion, Domaine de la Fadèze, Domaine de la Source, Domaine de La Grange des Pères, Domaine Limbardie, Domaine St-Martin and Mas de Daumas-Gassac.

Picture left: From miss rogue - flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
Picture on the right: From Pc fish, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link