I first tasted the Mourgues du Gres red wine right after a walk through the garrigue around the vineyards. To me it looked like weeds and I was glad I was wearing pants and had on good footwear since the terrain was gravely and steep in places.  I was also glad I wore a hat since the sun was shining brightly and the day was turning into a hot one.

It was late in May and the vineyard was not far from the Rhone or the Mediterranean. My nose made me realize this was no patch of weeds when I picked up the scents of this landscape - lavender, wild roses, wild thyme, mint, fennel, rosemary and even olives against a backdrop of flinty hot earth.

We returned to the tasting room and suddenly the Mourgues du Gres red wine showed me what terroir was all about. I'd tasted the South of France landscape I'd just walked through.

World Wines in Mentor was able to get a case of the Mourgues du Gres Les Galets Rouge for its Saturday night wine tasting to sample the vintages of the south of France. I was there with my map, wine atlas, copies of my travel section and great anticipation to taste this old friend again. I also brought my laptop so folks could see a slideshow of Languedoc - the region from which the wines come.

I wondered if the wine could possibly survive the 3,000 mile trip to Mentor and still taste of the garrigue I wrote about last month. I was afraid that my active imagination might have been the critical element to that aha! moment when I experienced terroir firsthand. (  See those stories at bit.ly/M7OSgF  and bit.ly/M7OT4e )

I am delighted to tell you that one sip took me back to that delightful afternoon of walking among the fragrant "weeds" of the garrigue to which Anne Collard introduced me.

I am even more delighted to learn that so many folks at that tasting also gave a thumbs up to this particular wine that World Wines will now be stocking it.