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histor
2600 years of history shared
between man and vineyards
From antiquity to the present
Grapevines have been present here since the 6th
century B.C. According to Pliny the Elder, its wines
were regarded as the best after those of Marseille and
wine was already being exported from immense estates
to the furthest reaches of the Roman empire. The Via
Domitia facilitated the wine trade.
Vine growing continued throughout the medieval period
but it was the construction of the Canal du Midi in
the 17th century that would give real impetus to the
vineyards, kick-starting the whole region’s economic
sector.
A genuinely inspired work of civil engineering and
the era’s masterpiece, which crosses the whole
region and links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean,
it allowed the region’s wines to be known and sold.
The development of the railways at the end of the
19th century also enabled the wines to be dispatched
more easily, in particular to the miners and workers of
northern France. This heralded the most prosperous
period of the Languedoc vineyards.
But the phylloxera, a vine-ravaging insect, put
an end to this fine expansion at the end of the
19th century, forcing wine growers to pull up the
damaged vines in a frenetic attempt to replant and
get production going again, which in turn prompted
an unprecedented economic crisis. The whole region
revolted and bloody demonstrations took place.
The start of the 20th century saw the birth of wine
cooperatives and it was only after the 2nd World War that
the vineyards of the Languedoc and its extraordinary
terroirs began to be recognised.
The Languedoc continues the wine
revolution...
The Languedoc-Roussillon wine producing
area is certainly the region where we can
see the most interesting things happening
in viticulture today, not just in France but
also around the world. It is the world’s lar-
gest vineyard area.
It spans the length of the Mediterranean
from the Rhone delta to the foot of the
Pyrenees. It is not only the largest wine-
growing and producing region of France
but also its most ancient.
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