During the past month, wine shops and restaurants throughout the city have been plastered by colorful posters announcing the Sud de Franc festival, part of the Languedoc-Roussillon region’s campaign to promote its wines and products.

During the festival, I have taught two classes at the Maison de La Région Languedoc-Roussillon (10 E. 53rd St, NYC). The first was on wines from the Pyrénées-Orientales with Mark Fine, who represents the wine house Gerard Bertrand in the US and has the ability to pull rabbits out of wine bottles. The second, solo, focused on the wines of Hérault.

Keeping with the “départementale” theme (that is, each tasting revolving around the wines of a particular département of the L-R), tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26, I’m showing up to provide background on the wines of the Lozère. Oh, wait, they don’t make much wine there, mostly animal products, dairy and various meats. Hmm. Okay, I’ll say something – maybe, about the cheeses of Lozère (there aren’t many available in the US), and something about wines from the Languedoc in general. A very good list: White – Font Mars Picpoul de Pinet; Rosé: Château Maris Old School, Château D’oupia Minervois; Red: Château Maris Syrah, Chateau Maris Old School Red, Chateau Fontanche St Chinian Les Terroirs, Col des Vents Corbières, and Domaine de Nizas Coteaux du Languedoc. Joining me will be Vladimir Garcia Encarnacion of Dry Dock Wine + Spirits of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Or, more likely, I’ll be joining him. No matter, the wines will all be unusually good for such events (did I just say that? Yes, they’re not always that good), and while I’ve never met Vladimir, his name does evoke a certain revolutionary spirit, so to speak. That is always to be appreciated.

Thursday, I’m afraid things might not, might not, be so enchanting. For one, I’ll be teaching solo, that is, unless I can draw one of the Sud de France’s bright lovelies to tag team. The theme: the wines of the département of Aude. The Aude, which might be said to be the very large, sauvage hyphen between the Languedoc and the Roussillon, includes some of the region’s most well known appellations, including Corbières and Minervois, one of France’s best sparkling appellations, Limoux, and a few odd-ball appellations (including Limoux) that require both Mediterranean (e.g. Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre) and Atlantic (e.g., Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon) grape varieties in the blend. To understand this anomaly, I invite you to attend the session. As for the wines: well, solid, if not quite as thrilling as Tuesday’s lot. Bubbly: Jamelles Méthode Traditionnelle Quality Sparkling Wine; White: Cirque Grenache Gris (I’m not actually sure about this one, since it comes from the Pyrénées-Orientales. I did not make the wine list, which relies in part on which wines various importers/distributors are willing to donate); Rosé: Château du Donjon Minvervois; Red: Villa des Anges Cabernet Sauvignon IGP, Puydeval Rouge IGP, Château du Donjon Minervois.

GrandeTradition. Unexpectedly, there are no wines from Corbières or another famous Aude appellation, Fitou, and none explicitly from the Med-Atlantic appellations, though the Villa des Anges and Puydeval no doubt are made from grapes from that general vicinity. The bubbly? Not Limoux, though the Jamelles website says grapes are mostly sourced from there. Because the blend, Chardonnay and Pinot doesn’t conform to certain Limoux rules, the wines can’t take the Limoux name (there are other reasons, too). In any case, the wine is made by the traditional method, what some refer to as méthode champenoise, so it won’t be total plonk. (Think of decent Spanish – sorry, Catalan Cava rather than Champagne. Speaking of Cava, the Seguras Viudas I had at the Revetlla de Sant Joan party last Saturday night tasted surprisingly good. Context, I suppose).

Both Tuesday’s and Thursday’s tastings run from 6 to 8.30pm (though they’ll really start closer to 6.30).

Location: 10 East 53rd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues.

Cost: FREE.