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Lovers of the countryside and its wines will find that the vineyards of the south-west have kept their dreamlike authenticity.
Along the banks of the Garonne and the valley of the Lot, through the Basque country, the Pyrenees and Gascony to the gates of Toulouse these vineyards offer an immense variety of wines and soils.
Throughout, the influence of the Atlantic is present with all its subtleties. Well known wines, Gaillac, Cahors, Bergerac, Madiran, and Irouléguy, rub shoulders with the lesser known Pécharmant, Côtes du Marmandais, Côtes de Duras, Côtes de Gascoigne, and the yet to be discovered wines of Entraygues, Estaing, Villedieu, and Marcillac. All are excellent vineyards with very different soils and vines yielding a varied, high quality product.
The vintners of the South-west have always promoted quality with the result that today they offer well made wines capable of providing us with some pleasant surprises.
Bergerac, an extension of the region around Libourne, shares its climate and its soils with Bordeaux.
Pécharmant, is rough and full bodied, and is to be drunk with red meat or game.
A little further to the south-east we come across the Côtes de Duras with its 1200 hectares yielding 70,000 litres a year and the Côtes du Marmandais with its 1300 hectares yielding 80,000 litres a year. Both produce reds with a distinctly Mediterranean character. Further south, the vineyards of Buzet produce 100,000 litres a year of wines, ranging in character from light, through meaty to fruity, from 1800 hectares.
Just next door, on the same side of the Garonne, the vineyard of Côtes de Brulhois cultivates 200 hectares producing dark, well balanced, reds.
The Négrette, Syrah, Gamay, Tannat and Cabernet Franc grapes cultivated at Lavilledieu yield the “Toulouse” wines known for their suppleness, delicacy and smoothness.
Between the Tarn and the Garonne near Toulouse, the Côtes du Frontonnais are produced with the very rare Négrette vine. Other varieties, the Gamays, Cabernets, Syrahs, and Ferservadous produce delicate, fruity wines to drinks four to five years old.
To the north-east of Toulouse the renowned vineyard of Gaillac is definitely Mediterranean. The reds of Duras do not lack breeding.
Following the Tarn to the north-east we find the Côtes de Millau and to the north, on the Lot, the wines of Marcillac, followed by Fel, Entraygues and Estaing.
Finally, there is Cahors with its distinctive wine produced from the Auxerrois (or Malbec), Merlot and five percent of Tannat grapes.
The vineyards of Bergerac and Aquitaine
1). Bergerac, côtes-de-Bergerac
2). Pécharmant
3). Rosett
4). Côtes de Duras
5). Côtes de Buzet
6). Côtes du MarmandaisThe vineyards of HAUT-PAYS
1). Côtes-du-Frontonnais
2). Gaillac
3). CahorsThe vineyards of ROUERGUE
1). The wines of Marcillac
2). The wines of Entraygues and Fel
3). The wines of EstaingThe vineyards of GASCONY
1). Côtes-du-Brulhois
2). Côtes de Gascogne
The vineyards of the PYRENEES1). Madiran
2). Béarn
3). Irouléguy
4). Tursan
5). Côtes de S