AOC TURSAN - Southern Bordeaux,
The AOC (Appellations of Origin) identify a product, the authenticity and character of its geographical origin. They guarantee its qualities and characteristics of its terroir, know-how of the producer of anticipation and awareness of a process and its name that is too old to be of a patent.
Tursan is one of those regions that you never seem to hear of outside France - which is a shame as it is home to some fascinating practices and long forgotten grapes. Wine has been made in Tursan for over a thousand years - gracing the tables of Roman Emperors. In the Middle Ages Tursan wines could be found in major Spanish cities such as Cordoba, Seville and Valencia as well as in England or Flanders.
Tursan lies in the western foothills of the Pyrenees mountains in the back-reaches of the Landes departement, surrounding the walled town of GEAUNE and pretty villages of Eugénie les Bains and Samadet. Part of the region just spreads into the Gers and Tursan takes its name from an historic area of the region which survives in the names of two local parishes - Castelnau-Tursan and Vieille Tursan. It is bordered by the River Adour in Landes, on the west by the Chalosse, south of the Béarn, and east by the Armagnac.
The River Adour has been an important water highway for the region - it in High-Bigorre in the Pyrenees, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean via the Bay of Biscay near Bayonne. This region was first cultivated by the Romans and had a flourishing wine trade long before the Bordeaux area was planted. As ths port city of Bordeaux became established, wines from the "High Country" would descend via the tributaries of the Dordogne and Garonne to be sent to markets along the Atlantic coast. The climate of the inland region was generally warmer and more favourable than in Bordeaux, allowing the grapes to be harvested earlier ant the wines to be of a stronger alcohol level.
Many Bordeaux wine merchants saw the wines of the "High Country" as a threat to their economic interest and during the 13th and 14th century a set of codes, know as the "police des vins", were established which regulated the use of the port of Bordeaux for wine trading. The "police des vins" stated that no wine could be traded out of Bordeaux till the majority of Bordelais wine had already been sold.
The winemakers of Tursan circumvented this set of codes in the 17th and 18th century by shipping their barrels down the River Adour through the port of Bayonne to Europe. Since the late 19th Tursan has resurrected an old custom from these times. Whilst the wines were waiting for shipment at Saint-Sever the barrels were taken to the seaside town of Hossegor Landes and buried in the sand dunes.
This ancient method of storage ensured the best conditions for the wine to mature - the send maintained a temperature conductive to the wines'preservation. Nowadays this revived practice once more takes place and barrels are stored for 6 months under the sand.
Sand also plays an important place in the terroir of Tursan's vineyards which are made up of tawny sand, limestone and clay. During the Mild-Miocene epoch, between 11 and 16 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean invaded the Aquitanian Basin. The sea laid down continental deposits that include molasse - sandstones, tawny sands, shales, or even gravel that were laid down as shore or fore land layers containing fossils of many terrestrial species. The fine clay is nox used for making earthenware in the village of Samadet in the hearth of Tursan's vineyards.
Tursan makes very dry white wines and subtle, smooth rosés and red wines. The red grapes used are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat and Fer Servadou. The white wine grapes are Baroque, Sauvignon Blanc, Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. Grapes such as Claverie, Cruchinet, Raffiat, Chenin Blanc, Claret du Gers, Sauvignon, Egiodola, Arriloba and Clairette can be found there as well. The production zone covers potentially 4000 hectares, but less than 500 hectares are covered by vineyards, and includes around 40 communes.
The Baroque grape is rare and is isolated to this area. Not much is known about this white grape but apparently it was widespread in the 18s. According to the French ampelographer Pierre Galet, it was introduced to the region by pilgrims returning from Santiago de Compostela, in Spain,. Essays written in the 17s record the variety.
There seem to be several types or mutations of Baroque - a black, rose and beige version are know to exist. The black variety is thought to be genetically closely related to Manseng Noir and Tannat according to a study published in 2007 demonstrated that the varieties Baroque , Manseng Noir and Tannat are genetically very closely related (Etude historique, génétique et ampélograpfique of cépages Pyrénéo Atlantiques by Louis Bordenave, Thierry Lacombe, Valérie Laucou et Jean-Michel Boursiquot). They also found a striking similarity to the variety Malbec and the variety Claverie.
However the white variety is thought to be cross between Folle Blanche and Sauvignon Blanc. The white Baroque (often spelled Baroque) can make full bodied wines, hugh in alcohol and has amongst its synonyms Bordelais Blanc and Sable Balnc (meaning White Sand).
Luckly the Baroque grape has been saved from extinction by Michelin starred chef Michel Guérard, one of the founders of "nouvelle cuisine", and the inventor of "cuisine minceur". In 1974 he moved to the Spa town of Eugénie les Bains, with his wife Christine (the daughtet of the founder of the BIOTHERM range and the owner of a chain of spas and hotels).
Tursan lies in the western foothills of the Pyrenees mountains in the back-reaches of the Landes departement, surrounding the walled town of GEAUNE and pretty villages of Eugénie les Bains and Samadet. Part of the region just spreads into the Gers and Tursan takes its name from an historic area of the region which survives in the names of two local parishes - Castelnau-Tursan and Vieille Tursan. It is bordered by the River Adour in Landes, on the west by the Chalosse, south of the Béarn, and east by the Armagnac.
The River Adour has been an important water highway for the region - it in High-Bigorre in the Pyrenees, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean via the Bay of Biscay near Bayonne. This region was first cultivated by the Romans and had a flourishing wine trade long before the Bordeaux area was planted. As ths port city of Bordeaux became established, wines from the "High Country" would descend via the tributaries of the Dordogne and Garonne to be sent to markets along the Atlantic coast. The climate of the inland region was generally warmer and more favourable than in Bordeaux, allowing the grapes to be harvested earlier ant the wines to be of a stronger alcohol level.
Many Bordeaux wine merchants saw the wines of the "High Country" as a threat to their economic interest and during the 13th and 14th century a set of codes, know as the "police des vins", were established which regulated the use of the port of Bordeaux for wine trading. The "police des vins" stated that no wine could be traded out of Bordeaux till the majority of Bordelais wine had already been sold.
The winemakers of Tursan circumvented this set of codes in the 17th and 18th century by shipping their barrels down the River Adour through the port of Bayonne to Europe. Since the late 19th Tursan has resurrected an old custom from these times. Whilst the wines were waiting for shipment at Saint-Sever the barrels were taken to the seaside town of Hossegor Landes and buried in the sand dunes.
This ancient method of storage ensured the best conditions for the wine to mature - the send maintained a temperature conductive to the wines'preservation. Nowadays this revived practice once more takes place and barrels are stored for 6 months under the sand.
Sand also plays an important place in the terroir of Tursan's vineyards which are made up of tawny sand, limestone and clay. During the Mild-Miocene epoch, between 11 and 16 million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean invaded the Aquitanian Basin. The sea laid down continental deposits that include molasse - sandstones, tawny sands, shales, or even gravel that were laid down as shore or fore land layers containing fossils of many terrestrial species. The fine clay is nox used for making earthenware in the village of Samadet in the hearth of Tursan's vineyards.
Tursan makes very dry white wines and subtle, smooth rosés and red wines. The red grapes used are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat and Fer Servadou. The white wine grapes are Baroque, Sauvignon Blanc, Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng. Grapes such as Claverie, Cruchinet, Raffiat, Chenin Blanc, Claret du Gers, Sauvignon, Egiodola, Arriloba and Clairette can be found there as well. The production zone covers potentially 4000 hectares, but less than 500 hectares are covered by vineyards, and includes around 40 communes.
The Baroque grape is rare and is isolated to this area. Not much is known about this white grape but apparently it was widespread in the 18s. According to the French ampelographer Pierre Galet, it was introduced to the region by pilgrims returning from Santiago de Compostela, in Spain,. Essays written in the 17s record the variety.
There seem to be several types or mutations of Baroque - a black, rose and beige version are know to exist. The black variety is thought to be genetically closely related to Manseng Noir and Tannat according to a study published in 2007 demonstrated that the varieties Baroque , Manseng Noir and Tannat are genetically very closely related (Etude historique, génétique et ampélograpfique of cépages Pyrénéo Atlantiques by Louis Bordenave, Thierry Lacombe, Valérie Laucou et Jean-Michel Boursiquot). They also found a striking similarity to the variety Malbec and the variety Claverie.
However the white variety is thought to be cross between Folle Blanche and Sauvignon Blanc. The white Baroque (often spelled Baroque) can make full bodied wines, hugh in alcohol and has amongst its synonyms Bordelais Blanc and Sable Balnc (meaning White Sand).
Luckly the Baroque grape has been saved from extinction by Michelin starred chef Michel Guérard, one of the founders of "nouvelle cuisine", and the inventor of "cuisine minceur". In 1974 he moved to the Spa town of Eugénie les Bains, with his wife Christine (the daughtet of the founder of the BIOTHERM range and the owner of a chain of spas and hotels).
