A wine book the Languedoc could do with

Wine books specific to the Languedoc are a mixed bag, but then that's the case for any wine region. The challenge; the Languedoc-Roussillon is vast and a hotbed of new entrants. This makes the useful half-life of any book covering growers and their wine much reduced.

Three books stand out for me.

Languedoc-Roussillon: The Wines and Winemakers by Paul Strang has given most pleasure. Published in 2002 and out of print, but still worth acquiring second hand. Rosemary George's The Wines of the South of France is of the same era, 2001, and is the definitive English guide with a focus on producers. Available for the Amazon Kindle, a physical copy will be tougher to track down. Fortunately Rosemary is a prolific poster on the region's definitive wine blog tastelanguedoc.blogspot.com

While the above two will appeal to aficionados, The Wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon by Wendy Gedney (2014) is an up to date introduction that will excel at inspiring and educating wine lovers to the region's total wine culture. Don't expect many producer recommendations - that need is best served by blogs these days. Read more about Wendy, her wine holidays and her book on www.vinenvacances.com

I must also mention Virgile's Vineyard: A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country by Patrick Moon
(2004 and 2013). More an insight into local life with an appeal well beyond wine buffs, although I found Patric's food and produce orientated follow up Arrazat's Aubergines: Inside a Languedoc Kitchen and even better read.

The reality of publishing and publishers today means new specialist subject books are in decline. However, there is an alternative approach for authors. A year of so ago I took a punt and helped "crowd fund" Wink Lorch's book project Jura Wine. She regularly presents at my local Charlemagne Wine Club and the evenings are always left-field, passionate and through provoking. Sufficient backers paid for a copy in advance to go beyond just securing publication and Wink was able to write 350 pages with some tasteful professional photographs. Wherever you need it delivered to, you can purchase a copy directly from Wink here jurawine.co.uk/jura-wine-book

Does the Jura and Languedoc have anything in common?  For any overlap in wine styles you need to go the vin naturel route - the Jura is home to the father of modern natural wine in France, Pierre Overnoy. Less tenuous and more relevant, both are under appreciated and little understood regions.

Is such a fine book viable for the Languedoc? The Jura has 200 vignerons and the majority are presented in Wink's book and required several months of research visits. The Languedoc is simply so much bigger. The Herault valley area alone has over 200 producers and even Rosemary George's master-work covers barely 20.

I can't see anything remotely comprehensive in print happening, but more musings on this later.