One of the perks of being the Wine Curmudgeon are trade tastings, where producers and importers offer samples of their various wines. At a recent Dallas trade tasting, two of my favorite Gascon wines were in attendance -- Domaine Duffour and Domaine du Tariquet.
Getting to taste them reminded me how much I appreciate Gascon wine, which is cheap, made with odd grapes, and just the thing to keep in the refrigerator for wine emergencies. So I did a quick round of the stores to find some more, and came up with the Artigaux ($10, purchased).
It's made with the Gascon grapes, ugni blanc and colombard, and it's not quite the wine that the Duffour or the Tariquet are. The Artiguaux is more simple, with a touch too much white grapey-ness. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, since the wine is fresh with low alcohol (11 1/2 percent) and almost enough acid to balance the fruit.
This is wine for the end of summer, and wouldn't be bad at any other time -- such as the refrigerator emergency wine, when you need a glass after work or something to drink with Chinese takeout.
I ALSO love the Gascon vines but where is the Petite Mansang? The Ugni Blanc aka Trebbiano is a winner up on the Texas High Plains. If we plant more of this one good value priced wine will flow down to ya'll.
Posted by: Bobby Cox | September 07, 2011 at 08:51 PM