Virgile's Vineyard -A Year in the Languedoc Wine Country by Patrick Moon. This is the first book from a new arrival in the Languedoc. After finishing his studies in French and History Patrick Moon entered the legal profession in London. He inherited a neglected house and olive grove in the St. Saturnin region of the Languedoc and this book tells how a one year sabbatical turned into a new life in the Midi. Structured into 12 monthly chapters it unfolds the story of wine in the Languedoc through the ages and through the annual cycle of the vigneron. Working with the small but enterprising Virgile Joly, a new start-up independent vigneron. Moon takes us from pruning through to the vendage, harvesting, and finally the actual production of the wine. Interspersed with this a brief but engaging history of wine in the Languedoc, from it's Greek roots through to modern day issues of over production and the search for quality over quantity. There are many amusing and insightful asides into both the characters of the Languedoc and the growing olive industry and, in cases semi-legal, Marc distillers and highly illegal black market trade in truffles

There is much in this book that the old Languedoc hands will already have imbibed along with their daily verre du rouge. But Moon's eye and style give the history a freshness which is appealing and there are still surprises along the way.