Tag: southwest France

A crisp, refreshing wine from Southwest France

The huge diversity of grape varieties and wine styles in Southwest France makes it an interesting wine region to explore. Tucked away between the Pyrénées and the Massif Central, with Bordeaux to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, it enjoys a warm, sunny climate with short, mild winters.

Here, you will find, for example, the ‘black wines’ of Cahors, the Gaillac blends of local grape varieties, the deep-coloured reds of Madiran, and the sweet and dry wines of Jurançon. You will also find the Côtes de Gascogne IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) wines. The IGP designation provides growers with a geographical indication for their wines but with less-rigid winemaking requirements than those required for the Appellation d’origine controllé designation.

These are predominantly white wines, produced from local grape varieties such as Gros Manseng, Colombard and Arrufiac, and often blended with Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The Plaimont Côtes de Gascogne Colombard Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a very good example.

A crisp, refreshing wine with pleasantly perfumed aromas, this is a classic Gascony blend of Colombard and Sauvignon Blanc. Pale lemon in colour, it has apple, honeysuckle and pineapple on the nose, and lemon, lime, melon and peach on the palate. With medium acidity and a lengthy finish, it is a well-balanced wine offering very good value for money.

You can enjoy this as an aperitif, or pair it with fish, or goat’s cheese.

Available from Sainsbury’s (£8)

A Malbec – but not from Argentina …

Le Grand Retour, Malbec de Cahors 2018

Like most people you probably think of Argentina when you think of Malbec. That is hardly surprising since over 70% of wines produced from Malbec grapes are from the country. But its origin, of course, was France, southwest France, where once upon a time the ‘black wine’, as it was known, accounted for more than half of the exports from the port of Bordeaux. After a period of decline lasting several hundred years until the latter half of the 20th century, efforts were made to revive Malbec in its home region.

And very successful they were, too. By 1971, the Cahors region had achieved Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) status and rightly so. However, only around 4,000 hectares of the vineyards that are designated AOC Cahors cultivate Malbec grapes, and so Malbec from Cahors is not seen as much as its Argentinian cousin.

But this wine from Georges Vigouroux is an excellent example of what a Cahors Malbec can be. The Vigouroux family has been producing Malbec since 1887 and was instrumental in the work to raise the profile of the grape variety in the Cahors region from the 1940s.

Le Grand Retour (The Great Comeback) celebrates Malbec’s revival in Cahors. It is a dry wine with medium (+) acidity and medium tannins, and has aromas of blackberry, bramble and spice on the nose, and blackberry, jamminess and a hint of chocolate and liquorice on the palate. It is a well-balanced wine, medium-bodied, with a medium (+) finish and medium alcohol.

We enjoyed it with duck but it will go well with lamb, and it is a perfect match for cassoulet, the rustic pork and bean casserole from the region. Call me sentimental, but I do like to try wines with a back story and this is one that has a happy ending!  Majestic £11.99 (Mix Six £9.99)

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