I find it odd that as much as I know about France’s wine regions, I know little about the Languedoc-Roussillon area. I’m about to change that.

In the last week, I joined five other people in an impressive tasting of 11 red wines from this region of southwest France. The wines were extraordinary and represent some of the best values in premium wine.

Languedoc is “the language of yes,” or the “language of the Oc,” short for Occitane. In the 16th century “oc” meant yes in this region of France. But it would be “oui” that the country would adopt much later. The Roussillon area was once part of Spain and today it still has the Catalan influences in culture and language. It represents only 10 percent of the wine produced in the Languedoc-Roussillon. But together they producer more than 30 percent of the country’s wine.

Still, try to find one in your local wine store. Even the best wine stores are ignoring this region. So, why aren’t we very interested?

Until now, the region made plonk. Wine producers were hobbled by phyloxerra and turned to importing juice from Algeria to make ends meet. Not until an AOC was created in 2007 did new producers focus on bringing quality to the region. Today there are many winemakers who are producing world-class wines. Gerard Bertrand is making terrific wines from several vineyards he owns. Other big labels include Chateau de La Negly, Domaine Gauby, and Chateau des Truffiers.

More than 70 percent of the wines are produced by co-ops, which I think hurts them in their goals. Using a common winery to vinify wines could force winemakers to take short-cuts. They can lose control of how a wine is made by a central winery eager to get every member’s wines into bottle.

The Languedoc is also leading the country in biodynamic farming. Producers like Bertrand are obsessed with it — and it shows in his impressive portfolio.

I’ll have specific tasting notes at a later date.