Travel writer KEN BENNETT sees French vineyards through the bottom of a wine glass on a laid-back canal break...

WINEMAKER Beniot Philippot had saved his palate-exploding blockbuster till last.

He had teased us with some fragrant whites, ross and reds. Then he reverently poured a 2001 Chateau Puicheric Minervois grand reserve: as joyously proud as its name and deliciously smooth and uplifting.

Settling back, listening to the gentle murmur of the engine of our river cruiser, I mused that this really was a self-catering booze cruise with a difference.

Ours was a sedate meander along the Canal du Midi, drifting through cathedral-like archways of majestic plane trees and some of France's best grape growing countryside.

We were visiting vineyards and wine makers, dipping noses and lips into superb chilled, spicy ross and full-bodied reds: a tranquil, stress-busting break.

No rush, no pressure.

The 420-year-old canal is the oldest waterway in Europe. It forms the final 240-kilometre stretch of navigable waterway that links the Atlantic near Bordeaux to the port of Sete on the Mediterranean.

This impressive feat of engineering with its 63 locks - one of them an eightfold staircase - means boats don't have the risk the sea voyage down the Atlantic coast and through the straits of Gibraltar.

Today the traffic is virtually all pleasure boats. Occasionally one of the old barges - a monster compared to our 45ft cruiser - lumbers into view.

Nowadays their cargo is not wine or wheat but people. They have been turned into brightly painted floating hotels

UK-based Connoisseur Holidays operates a fleet of cruisers from five centres on the canal.

After a 90-minute flight from Stansted to Carcassonne we headed for their base a few kilometres away at Trebes to join the Magnifique, a 10-berth, three-bathroom cruiser.

Personally, I would not fancy having more than six adults on board.

After being shown how to handle the cruiser - it is pretty easy - we set off late one sunny morning with the temperature in the high seventies heading south.

We had only travelled 500 yards to reach the first of the distinctive oval locks ... and our first problem: lunch hour... French style.

Despite our guidebook giving the lock opening hours as 9am to 6pm, the lock keeper was shutting down for a 90-minute break.

However, it proved to be a bonus.

We had spotted a dinky-sized market town on the bank and, thirty minutes later, we were weighed down with pat, cheese, hot chicken, salad and fresh bread...and of course wine.

Our unexpected lunch stop set the tone for the trip. In fact, we bought oven-fresh croissants and bread each morning for breakfast and grazed off excellent salads for lunch each day.

And we'd leave our cruiser each night to forage for some robust dinners, costing less than 15 Euros a head in delightful towns dotted along the canal.

A few miles downstream, we hove to for a wine-tasting at Chateau Saint Mery at Mareseillette. This family run business produces just 12,000 bottles and a few hundred casks a year, most that you'd never see on your average supermarket shelves.

In total contrast at Puicheric, a couple of hours cruising the following day, we met Benoit the winemaker at a co-operative of 200 growers which produces 12 million bottles a year in a modern, highly sophisticated plant.

Group Foncalieu supplies leading UK supermarket chains with a range of Corbieres, Minervois and Fitou.

But the canal itself is a real fascination. From its start at Toulouse to the Mediterranean, it opens a leisurely tour through the centuries.

The old town of Castelnaudary, Le Cite at Carcassonne, Minerve and Beziers; ancient churches and castles provoke images of bloody crusades and battles.

Try to find a day to explore Le Cite, an impressive fortified town on top of a steep hill, which dates back to the Roman Empire of the third and fourth centuries.

FACTFILE:

Ken Bennett travelled as guest of Connoisseur Holidays, The Port House, Port Solent, Portsmouth, PO6 4TH; Tel: 0870 774 9933. www.connoisseurafloat.com.

Low season prices start from £535 for a week's hire of a two-three berth cruiser rising to £1,515 for the eight-ten berth Magnifique.

High season, expect to pay around: £830 for a two-three berth vessel, £2,515 for the Magnifique.

Ryanair has daily flights from Stansted to Carcassonne. Visit their website to current prices and availability: www.ryanair.com