Same bulk-wine reputation as Languedoc-Roussillon, same rough era of reinvention — solved by doing almost the exact opposite.

Everyone's nan had a bottle of the bad stuff. The actual production method — barrels that never fully empty, and a living yeast raft that decides how it turns out — deserves a lot more credit.

It is too hot for a full glass of red. Cut it with soda, fruit, or lemonade instead — the way most of southern Europe has for two centuries.

Old World bottles look like they are hiding something. They are — it is just hidden in the label, in plain sight, in French.