A Love Affair (or is it a fetish?) Continued…

I recently wrote about my first French wine with a Stelvin Closure – a white Colombard from Gascony. Well, the love affair continues. I tried to put my finger on what I like about these wines and, truth be told, it was what I was putting my tongue on. Crisp, fresh fruit, with a minerality I just adored. Long known for Armagnac, the the distilled grape brandy, I am in the process of discovering great whites Gascony has to offer. Oh, foie gras is produced here as well.

Gascony was historically inhabited by Basque related people. It is home to the Gascon language. It is also the land of d’Artagnan, who inspired Alexandre Dumas’s character in the Three Musketeers.

Per http://www.wines-france.com/, the Southwest winegrowing region was created because many small wine producers scattered across the area decided to regroup in order to improve quality and gain recognition. Since they had long operated in the shadow of the neighboring region of Bordeaux, they joined forces, using hard work, awareness of nature and ambition to improve their production as much as possible. Wines of the Southwest come from a wide range of different lands, from the mild, rainy climate of the Basque Country to the dry, limestone terroirs of Cahors, and represent a diverse collection of wines, including fine sweet wines, fruity whites and massive reds.

I intend to explore this region some more. Maybe I’ll go red next time!

This entry was posted on October 17, 2007 at 9:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.