On the road again… doo dee doot doot on the road again… In this case, it’s the A64 autoroute through France’s Languedoc region, starting at Pau and ending at Carcassonne. We’ve got two hours to go.
After Pau, the next major city along the way is Toulouse. Toulouse is the home of Europe’s aerospace consortium, Airbus. We’ll keep our eye out for rockets and jumbo jets, but we won’t stop. We’ll arrive in Carcassonne mid-afternoon.
French Fill-Up
But before we reach Toulouse, we need to gas up. We’re driving out in the middle of nowhere. Gas stations have been few and far between. We ended up at one that wouldn’t have been my first choice.
This gas station looked like it had been abandoned years ago. There were no signs of life except for one motorist who was filling up. If this guy is filling up, at least this run-down old place must have gas.
As I pulled up to the pumps, the other guy took off. There were four sets of old pumps, each with three nozzles. There were no cob webs on the pump handles. I took that to be a good sign.
The nozzles were color-coded. There was a black one, a red one, and a yellow one. Other than colors, there was nothing to indicate which was regular, premium, unleaded, or diesel.
Eenie Meenie Miney…
Europeans are so good at conveying information with simple diagrams. That way, they can travel from country to country and get by without knowing the local language. These diagrams are everywhere in Europe. Except for here. No words, either.
Our rental car ran on diesel, but I had no clue which pump was which. Does diesel smell different than regular gasoline? Hmmm.
The phone was of no help out here in the French boonies. We talked it over and decided that it would be a very long way to the next opportunity to fill up. Dang.
Before I had a chance to do something I might be sorry for, another car pulled into the station. The driver got out and started pumping gas. I approached him and explained the situation.
He chuckled, explained what the colors stood for, and said I should use the orange nozzle. Problem solved. Ahhh.
Languedoc
Toulouse and Carcassonne are in the French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, or for our purposes, just Languedoc. It’s pronounced “lang-dock.” Maybe not exactly like that, but if you say “lang-dock” to a frenchman, he’ll know where you’re talking about.
Where would you guess most French wine comes from? Burgundy? Nope. Bordeaux? Nope. The correct answer is Languedoc. More than a third of all French wine, in fact. So why aren’t wine drinkers in the U.S. drinking more Languedoc wine?
One reason is that wine makers in Languedoc prefer to make wine that’s relatively high in alcohol. High-octane, you might say. Wine drinkers in the U.S. aren’t used to it.
The other reason has to do with marketing. Wine regions elsewhere in France follow laws designed to ensure brand quality. That’s the “AOC” (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) on the label.
Consumers of bordeaux with AOC on the label can be sure that “bordeaux” wine is in the bottle. It’s good for marketing, but for wine-makers, it means they have to follow the rules.
Winemakers in Languedoc are a bit more rebellious than most. They don’t like being told how to do what they do. One could say that Languedoc is the Wild West of French wine regions.
And speaking of Languedoc wine, I’m ready to test some out. We should be getting close to Carcassonne. I think I can see it in the distance.
To be continued…
