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BERGERAC AND DORDOGNE VALLEYContinued…CHATEAU TOUR DES GENDRES, LUC DE CONTI, Bergerac – OrganicA wonderful character and a fine wine-maker, Luc de Conti’s exuberant wines reflect his personality. Luc is a trueVinarchiste, looking for purity and intensity, the maximum expression of the potential of the grapes. In the vineyardthe soil is nourished with seaweed and silica treatments to encourage microbial activity. According to him the soil islifeless (“a cadaver”) and it is a fifteen year process to rid the ground of pollutants. Manual picking and selection ofripe grapes is essential; on the top cuvées there are several tries in the vineyard, and the wine will only be released ifit reaches the highest of standards. The blends will also change according to the physiological ripeness of the grapes.This vigneron even riddles the grapes on the vine, giving them a quarter turn (at least that’s what he tells us – difficultto know when you’ve been hoaxed by Luc). Madness or pertinence or the countenance of sublime perfection?Cuvée des Conti is a creamy Sémillon-dominated effort spending eight months on the lees and a month in barriquesfor the Muscadelle. Imagine waxy peaches and sweet cashews with a dash of ginger, cumin and white pepper. Thestraight Moulin des Dames Blanc made from grapes harvested on Les Gendres plot and containing 35% Sauvignon,50% Sémillon and 15% Muscadelle, exudes buttery white-apricot fruit; the oak is beautifully integrated. Thefermentation is in barrels made from Allier oak – 50% new, 50% used before. There is no filtration or fining. Intensebuttery texture, super-rich warm spiced apricots, peaches and quinces, incredible concentration and well-definedminerality. Ample mouthfeel and vivacity essential for a fine equilibrium. The fabulous, opulent Anthologia Blancconsists of 100% late harvested Sauvignon (picked grape by grape), given a maceration pelliculaire, barrel-fermentedand left on the lees. This “yeast of Eden” stands comparison with the greatest of all white Graves. A truly golden winewith luscious heavy honey notes and oriental spices, but one that surrenders its considerable treasures slowly andsubtly. After a short spell in the decanter the aromatics develop profoundly; spiciness makes way for sweetness,always checked by fresh-fruit acidity. This wine will age gracefully for thirty years.The reds are equally worthy of attention, particularly Luc’s piece de resistance, the Moulin des Dames Rouge (40%Cabernet 60% Merlot) which once famously finished ahead of Château Margaux in a blind tasting in Paris. Higher orlower? Higher! The red Anthologia, a glossy purple-black wine of fabulous density, contains Merlot (60%) as well asCab Sauv, Malbec and Cab Franc. A thing of beauty and a joy forever, testament to the power (sic) of underextraction.All the reds begin with the same fanatical biodynamic attention to detail in the vineyard. The grapes aredestemmed, the long natural yeast fermentations (30 days) are accompanied by micro-oxygenation and there is afurther malolactic in barrique. La Gloire de Mon Père (50% Merlot/25% Cabernet Sauv/15% Malbec/10% CabFranc) has an elevage in oak for 50% of the wine and in used barriques for the remainder. Stunning purple colour,blackcurrant fruit encased in vanilla and marked by savoury cedarwood, persistent finish. The Anthologia Rouge isfermented in 500 litre barrels which are turned (“roulage”) to give a gentler extraction. Power and sweetness alliedto refinement and purity – the crowning achievement of a true Vinarchiste.Luc laughingly dismisses his pink wine made from 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot, 20% of which sees somenew oak, and his unfiltered baby Bergerac from Merlot and Malbec. They are, nevertheless, both delicious.“Green” procedures are crucial to Luc’s wine-making philosophy. The Moulin des Dames wines are from a plot ofvines where he practises biodynamic viticulture, using herbal tisanes to nourish the soil. He neither filters nor finesand uses hardly any sulphur. Luc is a true defender of the yeast. In the winery he mixes the lees into a kind ofmayonnaise and reintroduces them (or it) into the wine to nourish it, relying on micro-oxygenation to avoid reductionproblems.2012 BERGERAC BLANC “CUVEE DES CONTI” W2009 MOULIN DES DAMES BLANC W2005/7 MOULIN DES DAMES BLANC “ANTHOLOGIA” W2012 BERGERAC ROUGE “LE CLASSIQUE” R2009 BERGERAC ROUGE “LA GLOIRE DE MON PERE” R2007 MOULIN DES DAMES ROUGE R2008 MOULIN DES DAMES ROUGE “ANTHOLOGIA” R“The last time that I trusted a dame was in Paris in 1940. She was going out to get a bottle of wine. Two hours later, theGermans marched into France.”Sam Diamond in Murder by Death (1976)- 20 -