UNDERSTANDING IGP PAYS D’OC

Given my interests in the classic wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, the attraction of bottles labelled IGP Pays d’Oc have largely passed me by. Up until now. Delving into the subject for this article, I discovered there was much more to IGP Pays d’Oc than I had realised. Rather than being a generic classification characterised by low prices and easy-drinking, varietally labelled wines, this is an innovative, fast-moving sector with many wines to set the pulses racing.

My formative wine experiences date back to the early 1980s – exciting times, when one could buy second wines from Bordeaux first growths for less than £15, and the world was just coming to terms with the fact that not only did New Zealand grow vines, but they produced Sauvignon Blanc which seemed to come from another planet.

Back then, Languedoc-Roussillon