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EDITORIAL
SYLVAIN PATARD - EDITOR IN CHIEF
THE BLESSED LAND
South-West France is home to an incredible array
of vineyard sites and wines. As the country’s
fourth largest wine region by volume, it extends over
47,000 hectares and 13 departments. We have selected
four areas from this huge archipelago of vineyards which
perfectly illustrate the uniqueness and diversity of this
land blessed for winegrowing.
Bergerac is mainly home to clay-limestone and gravelly
soils, offering the vines a measure of freshness and good
irrigation due to the ability of limestone to filter water.
The soils are well-suited to growing Cabernet, Merlot,
Sauvignon and Sémillon. The wines show proximity to
Bordeaux, both geographically and stylistically, but unlike
Bordeaux, they come totally fuss-free.
Between the Tarn and the Garonne, the vineyards of
Fronton cover alluvium soils of pebbles, gravel, sand and
leached sandy-loam known as ‘boulbenes’, along with
clay-silt (‘rougets’), stones and gravel on a clay base. But
the appellation’s ‘secret weapon’ is Négrette – 96% of the
variety’s global acreage is located here – which lends the
wines their inimitable character.
The story is similar in Gaillac where native varietals are
part of the region’s lifeblood. These combine with the
Mediterranean temperatures, Bordeaux-style humidity
from the Atlantic and the Autun wind which caresses the
vines with its warmth.
In Jurançon, which stems from the formation of the Pyrenees
mountains, the soils are clay-silt and pebbles. They
provide a home for grape varieties that can be found
virtually nowhere else – Gros and Petit Manseng, Camaralet,
Courbu and Lauzet. The vineyards face South and
benefit from a long autumn season when the grapes are
picked by hand from mid-October through to December
for the late-harvest wines.
You’d be hard pushed to find greater variety and uniqueness,
either in France or overseas.
6 AUTUMN 2023 • GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE