Podcast

The Drinking Hour podcast: Gérard Bertrand

The Drinking Hour host David Kermode sits down with Gérard Bertrand, former rugby player and influential winemaker, whose passion for the Languedoc-Roussillon has earned the region a place on the world’s fine-wine map

Words by Club Oenologique Editors

Gerard Bertrand
Gérard Bertrand has been instrumental in improving the international reputation of wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon (Photo: Marie Ormières)

In episode 180 of The Drinking Hour podcast, host David Kermode travels to Château L’Hospitalet in the Languedoc-Roussillon to meet Gérard Bertrand, a former rugby star whose winemaking approach has yielded an innovative orange and the world’s most expensive rosé, amongst many other wines.

Bertrand is approaching his 50th year of winemaking and with 17 estates under his belt, he is a formidable figure on the French winemaking scene. He begins the podcast by mapping out how he went from working his first harvest at the age of ten, to juggling his twin passions of rugby and winemaking, to overseeing over 1,000 acres of vines. He explains how he embraced both biodynamic winemaking and wine tourism at a time when neither were popular.

In the second half of the episode, Kermode asks Bertrand how he combines his holistic approach to wine with his business instincts. They also spend time on Bertrand’s book, Multidimensional Wine: An Initiation, which is currently being translated into English.

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Discover more episodes of The Drinking Hour with David Kermode here.

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