The discerning drinker: rural France fights back

Rural communities — whether producing wine, cheese or lamb — are shrinking and people leaving the land.

Add to that a devastating recent article by wine journalist Andrew Jefford on the relentless crisis afflicting France's wine co-operatives, producers of half the country's wine output, and it's not a happy picture.

Yet at the same time there are innovative small wine producers breaking new ground in la France profonde, especially in the wilder territory of the Languedoc. And despite many co-ops struggling, others burst with ambition.

Château d'Or et de Gueules "Les Cimels" 2007, Costières de Nîmes
(Real Wine Company, mail order only, £8.99: therealwineco.co.uk, you can mix cases, delivery £6.99)
Reds from the Costières de Nîmes, in the far east of the Languedoc, tend to pack a punch. This confident wine from a small producer is massive, sweet yet velvety and well balanced. It's syrah/carignan/grenache; the same property's mostly syrah "Trassegum" cuvée 2005 (£12.50) is, likewise, seriously brooding, concentrated stuff.

Domaine de Gravanel, Schistes 2006, Côteaux du Languedoc (Lea and Sandeman, £9.95)
Former barrister Jérôme Ravanel escaped the city in 2003 to live out his dream of being a winemaker near Pézenas. This grenache/mourvèdre/syrah blend is one of the results: a delicious Languedoc red, dry, mineral and intense.

Château Pesquié Cuvée Quintessence 2005, Côtes du Ventoux (Flint Wines, mail order, £13.95: flintwines.com or call 020 7582 2500; you can mix cases; delivery £10+VAT/case or pick up free from their Kennington offices)
A serious southern Rhône red from one of the best producers in the wild shadow of Mt Ventoux: brooding, beautifully spicy, intense.

L'Exception 2006, Fitou (Majestic, £9.99)
The Mont Tauch co-operative in the western Languedoc has long been one of France's most forward-looking and quality oriented co-ops. This is its top cuvée: a big, powerful syrah/carignan/grenache blend, it overflows with sweet, spicy fruit.

Les Trois Lys 2007, Crozes-Hermitage (Sainsbury's, £8.49)
I'm not a huge Crozes fan but this one does prove just how good co-ops can be if they try. From the big Tain l'Hermitage co-op, this is classic Crozes at an extremely fair price: peppery syrah fruit, brambly, quite light but very nicely balanced.

Vignerons d'Estézargues, Cuvée des Galets 2009, Côtes du Rhône (Stone, Vine and Sun, mail order only, £6.95: stonevine.co.uk, you can mix cases, delivery £5.50/case).
This small co-op just west of Avignon has a history of innovation, for example in allowing its members to vinify their wines separately (rather than shoving the lot in together, producing blah wine and then getting fleeced for it by some horrid, philistine French supermarket chain). Sweet, almost crystalline fruit and a firm backbone from a fine vintage in the southern Rhône.