Impressive Whites from the Languedoc and Bergerac. Fruity, French and Fabulous.

Well-known in Bergerac!

Impressive Whites from

 the Languedoc and Bergerac

Château Petit Roubié Picpoul de Pinet, AC Coteaux du Languedoc 2018, 12.5%, €14.10 Mary Pawle

Picpoul de Pinet is becoming a star wine, according to Grapes and Wines (2015). 

Picpoul is the grape name and it is found in the Languedoc and the best of it seems to be from the village of Pinet, on the edge of the Med and about 90 minutes east of Carcassonne. It is a very old grape variety and the name means lip—stinger (after its high acidity).

It has a pale gold colour. Aromatic for sure - citrus, melon and floral. Rounded and abundant fruit flavour (apple, lime, grapefruit), generous mouthfeel (close to creamy), a perky acidity and a decent finish. Highly Recommended and Very Highly Recommended with seafood. Serve at 8 degrees seems to be the official line but mine is one or two below that!

Importer Mary Pawle introduces this 2018 as a dry white, with a green-gold hue. Crisp and apple-y. “Often referred to as the Muscadet of the South, it is excellent with oysters and most shellfish.”

Château Petit Roubié has been practising organic farming since 1985. Floriane and Olivier Azan have owned the estate since 1981 and have developed, thanks to a judicious choice of winemaking, a very attractive range indeed. 

Their lands are in a historic area; if you visit, you can still see vestiges of the Via Domitia (the Roman road) in their scrubland. And those Roman engineers were building on top of an even older “road”. The wine, I’ve read, is presented in a Neptune bottle though that, as far as I know, has nothing to do with the Roman god of the sea.

Terroir Feely “Sincérité” Vin de France 2018, 13.5%, €22.20 Mary Pawle

You find out much about this 100% Sauvignon Blanc, in shorthand, on the label: Zesty fruit. Memories of the sea. Sincerity of nature. Hand-harvested. Indigenous yeast. Unfined. Vegan friendly. Organic. Biodynamic. Demeter.

In the glass, it has quite a light straw yellow. Gooseberry and citrus feature in the aromas. Lively and zesty attack, amazing flavours (more or less tracking the aromas) from then right through to the long finish, flavours are not at all extreme though, and with matching acidity, all’s in harmony here. A delicious refreshing wine, with minerality, perhaps from the limestone soil, and Highly Recommended!

Chateau Feely is in Saussignac (well-known for its sweet wines) in the Bergerac region but its wines are labelled ‘Terroir Feely’ because most Feely organic, biodynamic and natural wines are bottled under the ‘Vin de France’ label and in France, Feely tell us the word ‘Chateau’ is reserved for AOC wines.  “Since vintage 2014 our wines fit the natural wine standard defined by SAINS a French natural wine association”.

Why is it called Sincérité? “A pure Sauvignon Blanc originally named ‘sincere’ as a play on words with Sancerre due to the minerality and the pure Sauvignon Blanc character. It is a wine that is direct and acidic with a purity and freshness that is like sincerity.”

Serve at 7°-8°C with Fish and seafood, Fresh goat cheese and Salads.