The last of my May adventures in the Languedoc region of France.

Thursday May 19

This morning strolled the canal to the south. It still amazes me to walk by and see houseboats on it. As the sidewalk ends a dirt path begins. Wildflowers, bushes, and a line of sycamore trees make for a relaxing and meditative start to the morning.

Our first stop today is at the CIVL offices in Narbonne located in a 16th century building that used to be a chapel. We tasted organic wines from Gilles Louvet, the largest organic distributor in Europe. Or that's what they say. My favorite:

Esprit du Sud AOP, Blanquette de Limoux-A sparkling wine with tiny bubbles and creamy notes of almonds and walnuts. The marketing rep says the monks in the Limoux region were the first to make sparkling wine. By accident of course. A double fermentation occurred in bottles of Mauzac, the white grape of the region with lots of tropical fruit notes. We asked about Dom Perignon and his "I've tasted the stars" acclamation and creation of sparkling wine in Champagne. The marketing director says Dom was visiting the Limoux monks and got the idea from them. Hmm. Another great story. We will check it out more when we travel to Limoux tomorrow.

Up next was a slew of wines from Val D'Obeia-one of the largest co-op's in the area. We did not have pricing info but of those tasted if I could bring in the 2010 St Martin Reserve Chardonnay (soft, sweet, tropical fruit notes) or the 2009 St Martin Reserve Merlot (sweet vanilla, plum notes) and sell them for less than $10 I would pursue them.

Time to hit the road for another scenic drive. This time to the winery/resort/restaurant/hotel of Chateau L'Hospitalitas, owned by Gerard Bertrand. The lanky Frenchman was a famous rugby star in his 20's. Now at age 46 he heads 6 wine estates that sell internationally. Bertrand is still a very handsome man, but honestly we all guessed him at 56 rather than 46. Must be more stress in the wine biz than in rugby.

We tasted thru 14 of the GB wines, all outstanding and most available in the US. My favs:

2009 Gerard Bertrand Minervois (blend of syrah and carignane done with carbonic maceration to soften the tannins and express the black fruit.

1951 Banyals Gerard Bertrand "Legend" Vintage Port-rich notes of licorice in this special wine. We enjoyed it later at lunch with some cheese.

Back to Narbonne for dinner at the elegant yet modern restaurant, Le Petit Comptoir, which also had a small attached wine shoppe. Kind of made me feel like home! But the food here was FAR more industrious than MAWS. We were all feeling very tired and a bit goofy at this point. We tasted through 7 wines from Castelmaure, another co-op/negociant. The owner was very friendly, very happy to have us there and made for a wonderful evening of wine, conversation and food. We started with a palate cleanser of chilled cantalope gazpacho with a tortilla chip topped with a goat cheese spread. Luc- green briny olives were on table too. Perfect way to cleanse our palates of the big bold red wines from Castlemaure we had just tasted and would enjoy again with the meal.

My first course was grilled langostinos layered on grilled green apples. A side of shredded celeriac and an anchovie sauce created a salty/sweet/experience in my mouth. Delicious.

With it I enjoyed the 2010 Castelmaure Vin Gris-a lovely dry rose with notes of watermelon and strawberries.

Main course was le Loup Roti-a local fish grilled and then served atop vegetables in a broth. Light and satisfying. My wine of choice with the fish was the "La Buvette" vin de France. A Non Vintage grenache that had nice fruity soft tannins with notes of raspberry.

Dessert was over the top. A chewy dark chocolate brownie with chocolate ganache and a dollop of nougat ice cream. Wow.

It was our "last nite" so after dinner we decided to hit the town. We wandered around till we found an indoor/outdoor bar where all of the hip 20-somethings seemed to be hanging. We 4 are all over 40 but did our best to drink like the youngsters. I had a glass of white wine with ice in it!