Appellation help please. France.

Greybeard wrote ......

Hello bearded one - travelled through this area - just about eaten alive!

Fascinating area - this is the Rhône delta - almost dead flat - famous for horses and red rice - and 40 species of mosquitoes which flourish in the salt marshes

Home to one of the largest vineyard companies in France - Les Salins du Midi.

Traditionally one of the largest salt producers in France. Les Salins du Midi has diversified by planting over 5,000 acres) of vineyards along the Rhône delta coast, from Sète (southwest of Montpellier) to the mouth of the Rhône.

Established in 1883, they were one of the few vineyards that survived the Phylloxera fungus that decimated France in the late 1800's. It was the eco climate of the Camargue and the periodic flooding of salt marshes that prevented the fungus from being established on the Listel vines. Today Listel produces 80% of the Rose wines from the Camargue on their 5,000 acre domain and is very proud that their vines do not have any American rootstock.

The appellation "Vin de Pays des Sables du Golfe du Lion" includes a wide range of wines from the western Camargue. The largest vineyard is the Domaine de Jarras, located between Le Grau-du-Roi and Aigues-Mortes.

Original titled 'Gris de Gris' wine, it is now styled 'Grain de Gris' the varieties used may be Grenache, Carignan and Cinsault.

Listel is your basic low end wine here, though better than most in its category. Variety is grenache with some carignan probably, to give it some zing. You can get it for about 4 bucks here. Honest industrial production with on pretension to be anything other than what it is, simple wine, goes down easy.

Excellent, thanks for your input gents.

Getting very dry here in the metropolis, your lordship. How goes it in the winterless north?

greybeard

I had a very pleasant wine in a restaurant in Tarascon last May - only 11 euros so not high-end but, néanmoins, enjoyable! I have lost my notes (dammit) but it came from a small family operation run by a vigneronne and her website mentions that she floods the pre-phylloxera vines every 2 years. Graham