In this third episode on the geology of the AOP Terrasses du Larzac, our sound itinerary stops at Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, near the site of the Dolmen des Isserts, which bears witness to the richness of the region’s Neolithic history. Humans have also strongly marked the landscape with the (painstaking and exhausting) extraction of the many stones from the ground, using them to build multicoloured dry stone walls and the famous capitelles (drystone walled huts). These also testify to the diversity of the subsoils (sandstone, ruffes, shale, limestone). In this episode, Shona Gravat-Hodan sheds light on how the geology influences the vegetation, and this is something which is easily noticed within the landscape... 

But it is also felt in the wines, as Olivier Bellet explains: "Of course the terroir magnifies the wines; [it] creates the wines".

 

Credits, in order of appearance

Shona Gravat-Hodan, Project Officer, Terres d'Hérault Geopark project (Département de l'Hérault, a sub-regional public body)

Jean-Claude Bousquet, Geologist. He is the author of “Terroirs viticoles. Paysages et géologie en Languedoc.” (Wine terroirs. Landscapes and geology in the Languedoc.)

Olivier Bellet, winegrower at Clos Rivieral in Loiras du Bosc.

 

 

This podcast was directed by Alexandre Héraud, with support from his team at Écran Sonore, in particular Vincent Decque, editor.

 

The podcast was produced for the series Wine Routes, and can be found on our web application "Itinérances en Terrasses du Larzac" : https://visit.terrasses-du-larzac.com/ This web app was developed in partnership with Vinoways, a Montpellier-based start-up. It was financed with the support of Occitanie Region, and European LEADER programme funds administered by Pays Cœur d'Hérault (destination Vineyards and Discoveries "Languedoc Heart of Hérault"). 

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