Years ago, when I was first teaching myself about wines, I developed a reputation of being a “wino.”  I was having a party where there was going to be about twenty people.  It was a very casual affair with casual food, but everybody hinted that they wanted to taste wine and most claimed that they would bring their own choice of beer to the party.

Beer drinkers are quaffers, as I refer to them, especially back in the seventies.  Beer was guzzled then, today there are beer aficionados.

I was in a quandary; my cellar could be depleted by friends who like alcohol and the euphoria that can be achieved from it.   I had already started a collection of perhaps five dozen assorted bottles of wine that were aging.   What should I serve?   I went to one of the local wine merchants that I had started a relationship with.  I explained the situation and he smiled and brought me a case of Coteaux du Languedoc.  It was a red table wine with the V.D.Q.S. designation.  This appellation is for districts that have had a proven record of making wines of distinction from lesser areas.  This wine was from the south of France; just north of Spain in an area know as Midi.

While it was not a wine that I would want to serve with a great meal, it worked very well with the crowd, and it got me rave reviews.   At the end of the evening I discovered that I had acquired a large holding of assorted beers as the wine was a hit.  Through the years I have read more positive articles about the Languedoc and the Midi, so I am sure that I will repay the area with a visit.