“Pays d’Oc knows how to make wines for laying down”: with its autumn-winter collection, the Pays d’Oc vineyard offers wines adapted to the seasons

La parade des bouteilles primées en mode défilé de mode. Florence Guilhem

Présentation de la collection automne/hiver par le président du syndicat, Jacques Gravegeal. Florence Guilhem

Mise en scène glamour des bouteilles primées, avant leur dévoilement. Florence Guilhem

Et les heureux élus sont…. Florence Guilhem

The evening of the presentation of the autumn/winter collection of Pays d’Oc IGP wines took place on September 10th at the Domaine de Manse in Lattes. 48 vintages will be the ambassadors of the Pays d’Oc vineyard.

Fashion Victim? Wooden mannequins draped in fabrics lit from below by small lamps, a vine of dried flowers placed on top like a stole, and large candlesticks to accentuate the ceremonial nature of the event. Nothing was missing to recall the world of fashion at the Domaine de Manse, headquarters of the Pays d'Oc IGP wine union, this Tuesday, September 10. But the most beautiful mannequins that evening were the 48 vintages selected by a grand jury of wine experts from the 280 tasted. Because behind each of these vintages, creativity is truly there.

Making wine is an art form that begins with the vine and ends with bottling. Why not combine the winemaker's work with the world of haute couture?? In any case, this is the idea that the Pays d'Oc IGP Wine Producers' Union had in 2007 when it launched its “Collection” range, which has been available in two stages since 2023: the Spring/Summer Collection and the Fall/Winter Collection. And because it is a collection, the selection requires the best experts.

Blind tastings

The 50 wine experts making up the grand jury, to decide between the 280 vintages proposed by 22 private wineries, 7 cooperative wineries and 11 marketers, have been busy since 8am. Chefs, sommeliers, wine merchants, oenologists, journalists and bloggers took part in blind tastings of white and red samples, single varietals or blends, all day long, and even into the early evening.

"I am a big fan of whites, and I have liked almost everything I have tasted in this color. However, when making our selection, we also had to think that these wines will be consumed in autumn and winter. Our choices were therefore more oriented towards wines with more depth and richness, because they go better with dishes from these seasons. This is also why we have rejected others, even though they were very good, because we imagined them more to be enjoyed by the sea rather than by the fire“, says Renaud Jeanne, head of the restaurant La Vermicellerie in Albi. In other words, the choice fell on wines adapted to the seasonality of the products. That is the only rule of the "game" imposed.

48 ambassador vintages of Pays d’Oc

The 48 selected vintages, including 25 whites and 23 reds, will constitute the ambassador vintages of the autumn/winter collection of Pays d'Oc IGP wines. “This new collection demonstrates the diversity of the estates and the creative freedom of our winemakers: 32 vintages are single-varietal, affirming the Pays d'Oc DNA, and 16 are dual-varietal and blended, this time highlighting the creativity of our companies“, comments Jacques Gravegeal, president of the Syndicate of Producers of Pays d'Oc IGP Wines.

Some estates “are even multi-wine producers, as they have had several award-winning vintages in this collection. Let it be said, Pays d'Oc knows how to make wines for laying down. Excellence and elegance, we master", he jokes before listing the prize list, vintage by vintage. To illustrate it and stay in the spirit of fashion, the presentation of the bottles was the subject of a fashion show. Glamour to the end.

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