From rugby to wine: conversions that work

There are of course many connections between the world of rugby and that of wine. One can talk of shared values such as solidarity, team-spirit, individual flair and inspiration, leadership, dealing with all-weather conditions, resilience in the face of adversity and physical and mental endurance. Of course, all of this, in variable proportions and according …

Cotes de Gascogne 3: sweet white wines

This will be the third and last article of this series dedicated to recent vintages of the wines of the Côtes de Gascogne regional (IGP) designation from south-west France. The wines selected this week were part of a long blind tasting (95 wines) that took place on site on August 27th. The only type of …

Back to Gascony 2: red wines

Last week I wrote about the main type of wine produced in this part of South-West France, namely dry whites. But my tasting of some 90 plus wines also included some reds and a few sweet whites. This week I will talk about the reds in more detail. Vineyard in the Gers at this time …

Back to Gascony (Part 1) : dry whites

It has been two years since I tasted a comprehensive range of wines from the widespread Côtes de Gascogne designation. This IGP (they don't want to become an AOP and I think they are quite right) covers much of the Gers département in South-West France, as well as small bits of two neighbours, Landes and …

Good cooperative wineries (2): Les Vignerons du Brulhois, South-West France

General map of France's southwestern appellations to show the position of the small Brulhois appellation concerned by this article. Following my first article 2 weeks ago, this second article in what will be an intermittant series dedicated to good cooperatives in France concerns a small cooperative winery near the Garonne river in south-west France. Brulhois …