Tag Archives: Gascon wine

Wine of the week: Mont Gravet Cotes de Gascogne 2021

Mont Gravet Gascon white bottle
Mont Gravet Cotes de Gascogne 2021/$10-$12

The perfect choice for these troubled wine times – a Gascon white

Wine world got you down? Tired of paying $18 for chardonnay that tastes like a Reese’s Cup? Worn out from seeing row after row of smoooth red blends on retailer shelves that all taste alike?

Have no fear. The new vintage of the Mont Gravet Cotes de Gassogne is here.

Regular readers know that white from France’s Gascony remains some of the best values in the world. And the Gravet ($12, purchased, 11%) is annually one of the best Gascon whites on the market.

This vintage is a 50-50 blend of colombard and sauvignon blanc, and it’s a step up – more Gascon in character, so not so much a sauvignon blanc knockoff as a tart, almost white grape juicey wine, and with just a smidge of alcohol. Plus, it’s fresher and almost stony this time around.

And who knew the WC was ahead of the times when he was recommending 10 to 11 percent alcohol Gascon wines all those years ago.

Highly recommended, and a good chance for the Hall of Fame in 2024 as well as making the Turner sward shortlist. Chill this and drink it on its own, and with almost any food you can think of. I’m not sure it’s prime rib, but I wouldn’t rule out meat loaf.

Imported by Winesellers Ltd.

Wine of the week: Domaine Duffour Cotes de Gascogne 2020

Domaine Duffour Côtes de Gascogne 2020
Domaine Duffour Cotes de Gascogne 2020/$9-$12

Once again, a Gascon white wine that delivers value and quality for about $10

During the recent podcast with wine editor Felicity Carter, we discussed whether consumers really want different wines, or if that’s just a wine writer thing.

Here on the blog, I’d like to think it’s more than the WC pushing his Gascon white wines, and that there truly is demand for them. Because the wines are infinitely more interesting than another chardonnay, buttery or otherwise.

The Domaine Duffour Cotes de Gascogne 2020 ($10, purchased, 12%) is one more example of why that’s true. It’s unmistakably, wonderfully Gascon – tart, crisp, and refreshing, and made with all those weird grapes that we’re not supposed to know about.

In this case, the Duffour is mostly colombard, so it sits somewhere between the white grapey Domaine Tariquet, which includes ugni blanc, and the others that blend colombard and sauvignon blanc and taste more citrusy.. So the Duffour has bit of that white grapey flavor and less of the lemon and lime flavors.

So another simple, but not stupid, wine – the kind that is made and priced to drink with dinner, to enjoy with food, with conversation, and with those we’re eating with. Frankly, I can’t think of too many higher compliments.

Imported by Skurnick Wines

Wine of the week: Domaine Tariquet Classic 2019

domaine tariquet
Domaine Tariquet Classic 2019/$10-$12

Scores be damned – the Tariquet remains one of the world’s great cheap wines

All you need to know about this vintage of one of the great cheap wines in the history of wine is that it averaged 64 points on CellarTracker, the blog’s unofficial wine inventory app.

That kind of score means the 2019 Domaine Tariquet is undrinkable, which also means it’s worse than every Big Wine supermarket sweet red blend; every mass-produced, 7-Up-style fizzy, faux sparkling wine; and every 15.5 percent, baseball bat fermented chardonnay.

And which also means there is more for me. So maybe the 64 points is a good thing after all.

This version of the Tariquet ($12, purchased, 13%), a French white blend from Gascony, is hardly undrinkable. It’s as it always is – a blend of three grapes, only one of which is well known and two of which (ugni blanc and colombard) are usually held in wine snob contempt.

The wine is clean and fresh, and stunningly well made. I left an open bottle in the refrigerator for a week, and it was just as enjoyable seven days later as it was when I unscrewed it. This vintage has more citrus fruit, though there is still plenty of the white grape juiciness that sets the Tariquet apart from even the best of the Gascon white blends.

Highly recommended, as always, and just the wine to set us up for the next two days on the blog – the announcements of 2022’s Cheap Wine of the Year and Hall of Fame.

Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons

Wine of the week: Domaine de Pellehaut Harmonie de Gascogne 2020

domaine de pellehaut
Domaine de Pellehaut Harmonie de Gascogne /$9-$12

Ah, to be a wine drinker now that the Gascon whites – like the Pellehaut – are here again

The end of the Trump wine tariff brought almost unlimited joy to the Wine Curmudgeon, and especially when it came to my beloved white wines from Gascony. Once again, they cost around $10, remain delicious, and are still all a cheap wine should be.

Or, as we say at Wine Curmudgeon World Headquarters: “Ugni blanc, baby!”

The Pellehaut Harmonie de Gascogne ($12, purchased, 11.5%) isn’t quite as white grapey as the Domaine Tariquet, but white grapey enough. That’s thanks to the ugni blanc in the blend. Ugni blanc, known in Italy as trebbiano, is one of the least respected grapes in wine. Is it any wonder I like it so much?

So light, crisp, and fresh, just the thing for a Texas summer – or frankly, summer anywhere. If I had to pick a wine descriptor for its fruit flavor, sweet lime, maybe? But this is not a sweet wine; it’s wonderfully dry.

Highly recommended, certain to go in the 2022 Hall of Fame and to make the short list for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year. A tip o’ the WC’s fedora to long-time blog reader, wine aficionado, and really smart wine business analyst Christian Miller for letting me know about the Pellehaut.

Imported by Fruit of the Vines

Wine of the week: Domaine de Pouy 2018

domaine de pouyDomaine de Pouy, from Gascony in France, is ideal for late summer and 100-degree temperatures – crisp and refreshing

Gascon white wines are some of the best values in the wine world. But they’ve fallen by the wayside since the end of the recession. There have been importer and distributor problems, as well as price increases for no other reason than all wine should cost more.

But the wines from Gascony in France’s southwest, made with grapes most of us don’t know, may be back in favor. Could it be that those same importers and distributors are looking for cheap, well-made wines to sell during the pandemic? For one thing, I’ve seen several reviews for Gascon whites I don’t know, always a good sign. For another, I was able to buy the Domaine de Pouy after a long absence from this market.

The Domaine de Pouy 2018 ($11, purchased, 10.5%) shows what these wines can be – enjoyable, food friendly, and refreshing. It’s certainly not the best of the bunch, but one of the great strengths of Gascon wine is that even the ordinary ones are better than ordinary. The de Pouy is crisp, with a lemonish, sauvignon blanc character, but it’s not as tart or as sharp as sauvignon blanc. As with all Gascon wines, there’s a bit of white grape flavor that offers balance.

Best yet, the low alcohol makes it ideal for late summer, when the Dallas temperature gets to 100 and stays there. Chill this, and enjoy it with a Friday night takeout dinner.

Imported by Fruit of the Vines

Wine of the week: Biscaye Baie Sauvignon Blanc 2019

biscaye baieThe Biscaye Baie is a Gascon white wine that delivers more than $10 worth of value

The wine business has not been kind to France’s Gascon whites, one of the finest values in the world. There have been importer and distributor problems, the 25 percent Trump wine tariff, and the usual sort of availability foolishness. So imagine the Wine Curmudgeon’s euphoria when he found the Biscaye Baie.

Cheap wine gods be praised.

The Biscaye Baie ($10, purchased, 11.5%) is pretty much everything it should be. If it’s not quite up to the quality of the legendary Domaine Tariquet, it tastes like Gascon wine – fresh, white grapey, maybe a little tart, and, as the producer’s tasting note says, “a wine to be enjoyed at all times. …” Or, as my tasting note says, “Not quite Hall of Fame, but still worth buying in quantity.”

The Biscaye Baie isn’t a blend, like so many other Gascon whites – just sauvignon blanc. Hence, it tastes a little more sauvignon blanc-ish than those blended with colombard, since the latter grape tends to take the edge of the sauvignon blanc’s citrusness. But don’t confuse this with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc; it’s not a grapefruit-style wine, but has a sort of vague lemony something or other.

Practically highly recommended, if I did that sort of thing. But I have bought it in quantity, and keep three or four bottles chilled. We’ve reached the 100-degree season in Dallas, and that’s just one more reason to reach for this wine.

Imported by Aquitane Wine Company

Wine of the week: Alain Brumont Rose 2018

Alain Brumont RoseThe Alain Brumont rose, a Gascon pink, makes the WC smile and sip and then smile some more

First, there was the Brumont red blend. Then there was the Brumont white blend. And now we have the Alain Brumont rose.

Do you get the idea this producer knows a thing or two about great cheap wine?

The Alain Brumont rose ($10, purchased, 12.5%) is pink wine from France’s Gascony, and we all know how much the Wine Curmudgeon likes Gascon wine. Even more impressive, the Brumont is made with tannat, syrah, and merlot. If anyone had told me a wine made with those three grapes could be so fresh, they would have gotten one of my looks.

But the Brumont is fresh and interesting. It’s more fruity than most Provencal and Spanish roses (cherry, strawberry?) and more New World in style, thanks to those three red grapes. But it’s not heavy, it’s not overdone, and it’s cloying. Somehow, it’s clean and brisk, as rose should be.

Highly recommended, and just the thing for Christmas dinner for people who aren’t sure what to drink, who may not like wine, and for everyone who wants something different.

Imported by Kindred Vines