Early stop at Domaine Degrotte to see my friend, the winemaker Antonio.

Antonio is from Portugal but has settled here in the Languedoc to become one of the top white wine producers.

This morning I tasted through all of the Bezier Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Viognier vats with him. It’s an early stage but the southern whites are already very aromatic. The Carcassonne vineyards I make the CY and VC from are about 5-7 days away so Antonio said he would check them on the weekend and give me an update.

A quick stop in Limoux next to have a look at the Chardonnay for the La Voute. Need a bit more wine this year so I had a quick tour round the vineyards to choose one to add. Old vigneron M. Garrigue gave us an entertaining shirt-open tour of his fantastic Chardonnay vineyard. Higher altitude in Limoux so will probably pick end of next week.

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