Alain Brumont
In Madiran in the South-West of France, the unconventional winegrower Alain Brumont is cultivating the ancient, small-berry, indigenous vine type called Tannat. Due to its high tannin content the vine type is rather astringent. Brumont has managed to tame it on the best parcels of the terroir, in Montus with its stony, steep south-facing slopes, in the Boucassé plateaus with ironstone and manganese soils and in Gascony with its limestone subsoil. With great care he processes them in new barriques so as to transform them into presentable, discrete and very long-lived wines with a strong fruity taste.
Südwestfrankreich
The Sud-Ouest region comprises the winegrowing regions of South-Western France, with the exception of Bordeaux and Cognac. The areas around Bordeaux, Gascogne and the Basque country are climatically affected by their close proximity to the Atlantic. Some inland regions benefit from drier, hotter summers. Numerous rivers irrigate soils rich in clay, sand and gravel. The foothills of the Pyrenees and the high plains contain a number of rock types. In Haut-Pays mainly the same vine types are cultivated as in Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, although these wines are often less known and more interesting in terms of price. In the South, one of Europe’s most interesting arrays of local vine types is cultivated: here names such as Abouriou, Baroque, Duras and Petit Courbu abound, pressed into exciting wines by adventurous vintners.
Weather in the region