Okay hello and Welcome to the next in our series Of webinars at wct school london Uh welcome to those of you that haven’t Joined us before welcome back to those Of you that have Uh my name’s julio lambeth i’m purely Here as moderator For this evening your host today who’s Going to take you through All of his wonderful information about Bergerac is richard lane Richard you may have seen on our Webinars before He is a wine Fan hasn’t generally worked in the wine Trade He’s got a background in medical Journalism But i think we can say a pretty serious Fan as Uh he has literally in the last week Found out that he’s completed his Diploma Um so rather applause at home if you Will Um but i will leave that there from me For now i’ll let richard tell you a Little bit more about himself And the region as a whole so over to you Richard Thank you very much julia and good eve Good evening everyone Uh can’t see you because i i’m blind not
But your cameras aren’t on anyway i Can’t hear you which is Which is great but i get the impression Quite a few of you are out there And it sounds like you’re quite an International audience so that is really Fantastic so Thank you ever so much for for joining This webinar Yeah this webinar is called discover Bergerac because Um two or three years ago my wife liz And i decided Frankly we needed a year off in middle Age Uh because they didn’t have uh years off When we Were younger so we decided to have a Year in france that we both lived the cu Love the country but had never lived There Spoke a bit of french that sort of thing The wine connection is actually quite Interesting because um i only started Studying wine seriously back in 2016 At wset london when i joined and did Level two Which was then called level two wines And spirits uh it’s now level two wines Uh At the london center in burmese and that Got my taste going Clearly for wine and getting some Education going and then
The following year i thought well why Don’t i try level three because much as I’d love the level two i wanted to know A bit more Which is a bit of a habit of mine Wanting to know more Anyway so i know we’ve got lots of wact Level three students on the court Tonight so that’s great And rather generally on my for me in my Level three Theory exam which was four years ago Exactly four years ago Um bergeron came up on the paper Which was quite fortuitous because it Was just at that time that liz and i Were deciding to have our year off and We thought that bergerac might be a good Region to go to because we wanted to go Far enough south that the climate so we Thought Would be much warmer and drier than uh Good old blighty uh england and also so Uh You know slightly selfishly although liz Likes one too could uh could develop the Wine um Research shall we say around bergerac so Um So that was rather nice and so we we we Had this year off um starting in the Autumn of 17 going through to the late Summer of 18 so just about a year Uh three years ago and and berger was
Was briefly our home and It was a really really wonderful year um But in terms of the the wines of Bergeron we knew Although it came up in my exam so i knew A bit of knew a bit about it It was a real discovery not just Discovering the region because Uh the region around bergerac which is Which the department is called the Dordogne Uh historically it’s called the perigore Is a really interesting Historic area it’s also from the wine Point of view Quite interesting because it’s so close To bordeaux bordeaux as the crow flies From From bergerac is 84 kilometers about 50 miles but it feels a lot further than That when you’re out there Because life in in the bergerac the Dordogne Stroke perigo is quite slow very rural Very rustic So the whole wine scene discovery was Interesting and I like to start my why webinars as some Of you may have noticed with a quote Last time when i did the talk back in December on longer dark it was all’s Clap I’m actually going to uh quote from from Chances chances robinson no less
Probably You know the most famous wine critic in The world for many many years And she says in the oxford companions of Wine It has long been difficult for the wines Of bergerac To escape from the shadow of bordeaux’s More serious wine reputation But thanks to much more sophisticated Use of oak And pioneering producers such as luke de Conti and david fortu And some sweet wine makers some truly Fine wine is being made and i think Terrific Because for a lot of people people have Heard of bergerac they’ve heard of Cerrano de bergerac The the play in the film girard deputy Member in the film and and if you’re my Age Or older and living in the uk you may Remember a certain detective from the Channel islands but i’m not going to Talk about him I promise but bertrand often it’s It’s people have heard of it but they’re Not quite sure what it is so that’s what This evening is all about Okay let’s as usual go to the maps we’ve Got a couple of A few maps to look at let’s look at the Next slide please julio the first map
This is Hopefully recognize this rather large Lovely country called france With a few colors going on there i won’t Go through them all that uh Nice though it would be to start off in Champaign in the northeast If you could take your eyes down to Bordeaux which is um Sky blue color three quarters of the way Down About one third of the way in from the Left Okay there is bordeaux And immediately to the right to the Easter border you can hopefully see Two green rectangles separated by a bit Of space The first green rectangle immediately Next border that is bergerac Okay then there’s a bit of a gap and Then just east it’s actually very Slightly southeast Of there is cow um Of course the spiritual home of malbec Um we’re not going to talk about cow or Tonight though malbec Does get a couple of mentions okay and Then looking At the let’s go to the next map actually I think it’s more interesting In terms of placing bergerac julia so This is a slightly closer look at Um south west france also it’s really
Important to say To understand that southwest france is South west france It’s not the south of france okay really Really important because Um if you say if you say to someone You’re going down to beer it’s or Bordeaux they think oh you’re off to the South of france no you’re not the south Of france is the midi it’s it’s uh It’s the mediterranean this is the Atlantic influence southwest of france It’s a very very large area Historically it’s called akiten famous In the middle ages from Eleanor of accutane of course and she Married a guy called henry who became King of england and that meant the whole Of this area was under english rule 300 years i think this is partly why the English love it so much and so many of Them live there Particularly in bergerac where you can Struggle to practice your french Sometimes because there are so many Brits around but looking at this map Again just to orientate ourselves you’ve Got the girons top left So that’s famous uh obviously for For port summer bordeaux’s finest Chateau top left That blue line is the dordon river which Connects bordeaux with the bergerac Region
Uh bergeron you can see is a sort of Turquoise color there turquoise color And then that area red slightly Southeast again on the previous night That there’s color again you see it’s Red on this Map that large encircled area Below further south um big oval area That’s the coat de gascon So that’s a big area of high volume Terrifically refreshing inexpensive White wine that’s Particular to the southwest particularly The great variety colombia with a bit of Sauvignon blanc And you can see a couple of little Colors to the kind of south west of that Oval block you’ve got In a form colour you’ve got maduro okay Famous for its highly tannic Really chewy red wines that need a lot Of aging And then just beyond that in the great Color you’ve got juran song you’re right Down here In the pyrenees almost in spain a long Way from berger i have to say probably 300 kilometers south Um and jiren song famous of course for Some fabulous sweet wines And some dry whites as well the reason i Mentioned this is because Southwest france is also the name of of A wine region called
Imaginatively southwest france because If you’re not bordeaux okay bordeaux Is bordeaux and everyone’s heard of Bordeaux if you’re doing wine In south west france and you’re not Bordeaux you’re just put into this great Big category called southwest france Which is vaguely helpful but not Terribly helpful because there’s so much Diversity you’ve got a lot of distance Involved as i’ve just said You’ve got many different appellations Many different sort of historic cultural Things going on Indigenous great varieties you know Bergeron song down by the pyrenees You know we might as well be talking Berger to the loire valley or bergeron Going over towards the rhone valley It’s not that helpful but it is all part Of this great Historic cultural part of southwest France called accident Or accutane as they call it in france Let’s go to the next slide and look at Another map but More colors but this is more of a Tourist information map because You can’t talk about uh the perigore Without talking about a bit about what The perigore Or the dordogne area is like and wine is Definitely At the heart of the cultural activity uh
Of this region unquestionably but it’s Not the only thing that’s going on Let’s just look at these colors some Bright spark in the dark Office of tourism apparently created This about 30 years ago to try and uh You know a bit of marketing pull into The Into the region um So you’ve got these different colors You’ve got the black the the perigord Noir the black perry goal that’s Generally over to the east That’s where you get lots of dark forest It is dark over there As liz my wife will confirm it’s all Very bunched together lots of Oak forests got lots of warm up trees um It’s truffle territory as well as it is Further north in the perigord So you’ve got a lot a lot of uh Interesting uh the walnuts In this area are fantastic you can even Get a wine made from walnuts Uh with walnuts rather it’s called a van Den why it’s delicious at the white area In the middle that’s Really to do with the the chalk soils in The middle and uh That’s sort of north of beijing you can See that bergerac the town Is a sort of i you can see fairly i Think julia’s highlighting you know Fairly much in the center there
Of the of the purple area and it’s Called the perigold Purple or the perigold purpura because Of the wine the color of the vine leaf The vine leaf Can not always turn purple in the autumn Which is rather loving And then further north you’ve got the Perigold there the green area This is rolling pasture land lots of Cows lots of Uh that sort of farmyard activity not Wine territory so This is a region of contrasts the region Itself is about I suppose this whole area is about the Size of whales something like that so It’s fairly large I’m not quite as big as well sorry you Know i know we’ve got some welsh people Listening But you know getting on for that sort of Size So as i said it’s the department is Called the dordon Historically it’s called the perigore What is it like well it’s It’s definitely rural and rustic okay If you’re wanting city lights um no Bordeaux for example Forget it i mean you can get the trains Bordeaux but it’s a very very slow Wobbly train down Down to bordeaux this is all about the
Countryside this is about rural people This is about an area where there are Prehistoric cave paintings that go back Four or five thousand years The walnuts and truffles i’ve already Mentioned duck and geese the local A gastronomy is dominated it’s not great For vegetarians i have to warn anyone Who’s thinking of going on Holiday when we can start traveling Again it’s very much based around a rich Diet of Duck and goose particularly with these Lovely nuts and of course the truffles Foie gras the dreaded foie gras i’m not A fan i have to say but it does pair Very well the sweet one baziat wine The very first day full day that liz and I were In our local town of beaumont du perigar Southeast of bergerac You go to we went to the market of Course the first thing you do Is go to the market to see what’s Happening and someone immediately put a Great big giant Skewer in my hand and of course i Immediately started nibbling the end of It without even thinking what it was and It was The dreaded in my terms foie gras but I think in in the perigords to say You’re vegetarian is sort of okay To say you’re not vegetarian and you
Don’t like foie gras they give you a Funny look By all accounts but there you go also Historically in this land it used to be Not just wine and agriculture it used to Be tobacco tobacco leaves grown Everywhere So you could say that the paragon was The center Of wine and and tobacco smoking And rich food not terribly healthy and Yet There have been a few studies not Published in the landscape the journal I’ve done a lot of work for over over Many years i have to admit There have been a few observational Studies suggesting that people in the Perigord lived to a great age And liz and i met a lot of very old People and you hear stories of people Living to a hundred just over 100 locals I don’t know what it is The duck fat the red wine the tobacco or Maybe the relaxed pace of life Who knows but there is happily if you Don’t like foie gras And uh and darken and goose and all the Rest of it There is some very nice wine at least You can wash it down and i certainly When i Have occasionally had foie gras i’ve Quickly washed it down with some very
Nice wine Let’s look at the map but from a wine Perspective next slide please julia And the area i love this name generally The wine area is called le Bergera the pejorakoi is the wine region Okay Um we’re going to re revisit this map a Couple of times in the presentation so I’m not asking you to memorize all these Colors and names now okay But just to say i think one of Bergerack’s Difficulties apart from the fact that it Adjoins Bordeaux the great big brother next door That gets all the attention Is that bergerac is actually slightly Confusing as a wine region For a small i mean small to kind of Medium size we’re talking A production of half a million liters a Year 0.5 million hectares A year from around 10 000 hectares it’s Around the 10th Maybe eight percent ten percent the size Of bordeaux’s it’s Okay bordeaux is enormous clearly bezrax Not Tiny but it’s not it’s sort of only just Boring on medium-sized small to medium Size For for a wine territory like this it’s Potentially a bit confusing there are 13
1 3 appellations if you apply them all To the different colors of wine That are produced and we’re going to Talk about them but happily there is Great diversity In bergerac much as i love malbec And kawal which is only 50 miles down The road from Southeast of bergerac if you go for a Visit In uh in kaoh or you go to the maison Duvet you just end up Tasting a load of lovely of malbec wines And they’re great But there isn’t a huge amount of variety Just within within that just within Malbec In berger you can be sipping a really Lovely crisp Uh bergerat long sick dry white wine you Could be having a medium sweet wine You could be having a lusciously sweet One and we’re going to look at mombasia A bit later on You could be having a lovely rosie but It’s not going to be a pale pink rose That looks like it’s come from provence Oh no no no This is the perigore there’s no pale Pink rose going on around here Well there certainly weren’t wasn’t much When liz and i were going there i don’t Know if they’ve got any more going on at The moment
A great amount of diversity Um Okay so just to give you an idea from This map as to some what some of those Appellations might be we’re not going to Cover all of them Generally the berger appellation and by The way Most of the area is under appellation Okay there are 13 appellations here So the most of the wine if you visit the Area that you will taste Will be within the appalachian system Having said that The very first wine that there’s nice Sit having had the Skewer of foie gras from the market was A van der perrigor and it was a Sauvignon Blanc um uh just under A lesser if you like it it’s a step back From the main appalachian it’s called The igp system It just means that winemakers can make One more freely with with fewer rules And they do have This igp thing called van der perregal And um you know you don’t see that much Of it but one that we have Quite often from my local shop was very Very nice but most of the wines are Within the appalachian system So the red zone you see on this map is Generally the stuff that comes under the
Berger and the main berger appellation Which can be a white all right up uh Appellation Mombasa which you can see to the south Of bergerac it’s south of the riverdale And that’s a sort of um that’s orange Zone there we’ll talk about that later Um there’s an area we haven’t got time To focus on this evening called peshamal Which is kind of just to the east of Bergerac North of the river that make quite Structured red wines particularly Because of the Kind of iron layer they’ve got in the Soil there called tran which is quite Interesting And later on we’ll pop over to the wild West of monravel That i hope you’re looking at is sort of Olivey green over over to the west And a little tiny area called rosette Where they make medium sweet Uh wines i think you get the impression That Medium who drinks medium sweet wines Well they do a little bit in bergerac Bergerac is not fashionable bergeron Wine has probably not been fashionable Since about 1750 when the dutch Very kindly drained the marshy medic to The West of bordeaux which created all the
Fabulous chateau that gets all it Gets all the headlines today okay Let’s move on because we need to visit The maison du van and i must apologize Because actually this one In bergerac is called the maison de van Because it covers Two appalachians bergerac and a very Small appellation called dura Which is down near the anthro de mer White wine region To the east of bordeaux but anyway the Maison d’youville But word of advice for for anyone if You’re ever visiting france or any Any wine region of the world Particularly to get your bearings or if You’re visiting a town that’s In the wine region you don’t have time To go and visit the vineyards go to the Maison du van Talk to the person behind the bar They’ll give you a tasting they’ll Hopefully explain the whole area to you And this lady francoise Got a bit sick of the side of me i think As i kept going there with liz and Various um visitors who came out to to See us during our year out there But it’s a great way of getting to know The region And the nice thing about the maison de Van edura In bergerac is it’s actually the
Building is beautiful it’s an eleven Cents It’s set in an 11th century cloister Um in the old town of bergerac just very Close to the river Because berger as you saw from the map Is is right on the river door on And that’s rather appropriate really Because whilst undoubtedly the romans Got the whole wine Scene moving uh in these parts around 2000 years ago It was really the monks and monasteries Of medieval time As i mentioned in the longer dot Presentation if you saw that one That i did back in them in december that Made Wine a really important commodity in Terms of the cultural landscape And so that was you know obviously France being a catholic country monks And monasteries um Very prominent in the area um and still Alone in some ways of course And then as time moved on and you’ve got Sort of more towards the renaissance Period of 15th 16th century this is when the trade Became Started becoming important because in Around sort of 16th century even early 15th 16th 17th century the As i mentioned because of what had gone
On before The english sorry before the english Lost the territories in southwest france Which is when they lost 100 years war by famously um Taking their uh their troops into Getting wet in the river door don and Losing 100 years war This was english territory for 300 years And that had created an export trade Which meant that wines from bergerac Would would be put in barrels on flat Little boats called gabas That are kind of low-lying and very flat And they would have rocked on down the River down to places like liberon and Bordeaux and then it would have been Shipped To england because back here in england The wines of berger Were very much liked by the aristocracy So that had created an export route Because of the english territories in This region going way back when then After the English had to hand back the land To the fridge it was there to begin with Let’s face it Um the dutch actually got involved Because They like this region very much and they Developed particular interest in Developing and making sweet wines that Said
We’ll visit one basic in a bit and as I’ve already mentioned it was it was the Dutch that drained the medoc Left of uh to the left bank of bordeaux From being a malarial swamp in the Rounds of late 17th century And when that happened the dutch Unwittingly Were kissing goodbye actually to Bergerac as being A wine region of great prominence Because that meant bordeaux could build Its huge reputation With the likes of lafitte and all the Rest of it with all those great Vineyards That came through the 18th century 19th Century And as a result of that ordo became big And illustrious And berger became backwater Okay what else in terms of a quick History of of bergerac Well like all of the whole world with a Couple of exceptions And bergerac obviously had to deal with The philosopher crisis What’s that some of you are thinking What’s going on about just but very Briefly This was a little aphid like bug that Decimated Worldwide vineyards with a couple of Exceptions like chile and
South australia but the rest of the wine World basically the vines were all Destroyed by this horrible little bug And fines had to be replanted massively In the early 20th century Then in 1936 an important year because This was the year in which the Appalachian system really got going well Did get going in france So up until 1936 bergeron was part of The bordeaux wine region It wasn’t part of what i said earlier About being southwest france Bertrand was connected to bordeaux okay It had become a very poor relation to Bordeaux But it was still connected but come 1936 Appalachian control a the bordeaux wine Region Appellation created Not part of it bears rank appellation Created all those other Appellations chattanooga dubai was the First one wasn’t it um down in the in The southern rome All the other ones you know i mean Obviously a lot of them have come later On but the first Appalachian controller areas of wine for France 1936 okay Right that’s enough of history and Bearings let’s talk a little bit about Climate and i’m starting off with the
Perhaps the the nicer side of the Climate that we experience Um in berger but seriously okay and it’s A jokey picture and Golly it can get very very hot but the Point i’m I want to make here is that it really is A classic case and particularly for Those of you who are Students this evening bordeaux clearly Is a maritime climate because of the Influence of the atlantic Berger interestingly still still has a Massive I think maritime influence because it Rains like heck A lot of the time and there’s there are No mountains or hills to protect Bergerac from the atlantic ocean so when Those storms and the rain comes in from The atlantic Okay it gets to bordeaux first before it Gets to bergeret But it still gets hib to bergerac too But it’s very much the point in this hot Picture you’re seeing and i think you Can see top of there very sensibly Taking Shape so is a a mad englishman and not So much a mad dog Um the heat can be very intense because When you’re this far in land Despite what i said about getting the Rain from the atlantic there is
Definitely a continental influence here It’s not a continental climate It’s a maritime meeting um A slightly continental climate okay Um and it means that when and Liz and i used to call the weather Generous or capricious it’s certainly Capricious And again going back to what i said Earlier you think you’re in the south of France no you’re in southwest france That means It can rain and it can rain during the Growing season it can Range rain during harvest so you can Have a lot of variability here but when You get hot spells here wow can it get Hot In the past two or three summers they’ve Had heat spikes they’ve had Periods during the summer when they’ve Had spells of of temperatures 40 degrees and above for quite a long Time So it can be very very hot but Also because of the cot slight Continentality you get the climate you Do get This big difference between daytime and Nighttime temperatures and it’s the Thing we really notice coming from England where generally Our nighttime daytime difference may be Maybe 7 degrees or 5 degrees or 7
Degrees Uh there in in the bergeron it can be in The summer it can be 20 degrees Why is that important when i say 20 Degrees it might be 35 degrees On a hot summer’s day going down to 15 At night that is important from the Winemakers point of view because you can Hang on to the acidity in the grapes Which is really really important okay Same as i mentioned When we talked about the longer doll Okay uh next slide uh please julia Is the opposite opposite of this and uh Gosh can it get cold in inland france Even when you’re three-quarters of the Way down france as we were there And again because i mentioned this Slight touch of continentality in the Climate It can be a real headache for for for For winemakers For for viticulture um the year that Liz and i and topper went out there to Live 2017 we went out for a recce To check out the place we’re going to Live in we went a few months earlier we Went out in Easter time mid to late april 2017 and i’m sure many of you May know this that 2017 Um was a com was a bit of a disaster For european wine generally not just in
France because of that Absolutely paralyzing late spring frost That happened that year we were there at The time it was the day we flew back and Remember we went into bajarak town to Do a bit of shopping before we went to The airport i thought we’d landed With turned up in on the south pole it Was so cold Uh we were like it is now almost you Know we’re having a cold spot spell at The moment 27th of april so you’re almost in may Okay The bug break you know the the the bats Have formed their shoots Probably in march early to mid march so But you know your flower is already out In the garden And in you’re almost in may and then you Get minus seven degrees frost At the end of april absolute catastrophe As they would say out there And some producers um Actually lost a whole vintage because of It If their aspect if that you know the way Their Vines were facing if they were facing North or they weren’t protected by Forests and trees and other things like That it could have been an absolute well It was an absolute disaster Okay and on the next slide please as
I’ve already alluded to probably a bit Too much already It does rain a lot when everyone Anyone says atlantic influence to me i Just just think puddles And the spring particularly in the Paraguay can be very very wet It’s very wet there at the moment our Friends and we got Met obviously quite a few friends while We were there and whilst it’s Snowing and freezing cold here down There at the moment it’s just soggy And um one good thing i suppose in terms Of from viticulture point of view is if You’re going to get a really hot summer With that intense heat that i’ve Mentioned you can get at least the water Table Is pretty high so hopefully the vines Won’t get too stressed If it’s been a wet spring And of course wet also means fungal Disease mold and all these garlic things That you don’t want from a viticultural Perspective And therefore that means that worthy but Practices such as organic or biodynamic Viticulture can be really challenging Because obviously It can rain you’re in southwest france It can rain at any time Okay let’s move on to the next slide Let’s have a quick look at soils and
Terroir just very quickly this Lovely guy he’s got a wonderful name Xavier de sante superior the santa Experience family Of famous it’s the name of the airport In lyon and Antoine de santa experience he was the Aviator killed in world war ii who wrote The petty cramps Which is a book that everyone in france Every child in france reads from about The age of 10 You know philosophical and all the rest Of it anyway this guy zavier is a Distant relation Of uh antoine and he owns one of the Private chateaus in beaujolais called a Chateau de tiogans near bergerac And he gave me a terrific hands-on Experience of soil and terroir so for Myself Not seeing that was really invaluable And When we’re talking soil generally as i Found everywhere i went in france not Just Bergeron bordeaux or burgundy it’s all About The clay limestone balance seems to be The big matter that they’re concerned About arjeel Clay calcare limestone And a lot of the top producers really Really prize the limestone
Particularly they think that has a Really important terroir influence on On the viticulture um because it’s Slightly alkaline it keeps the acidity Going in the grates which i’ve already Mentioned is really important You get a bit of flint sometimes as well They call it sea lex And because of the river influence the Dordon you do get some alluvial sandy Soils as well Which means you can get some lighter Soils which can lead to more sort of Lighter more perfumed wines whereas Where you’ve got the dominance of clay Clay is quite thick and sticky as you Know you go walking on a clay soil Very muddy that’s you get a lot of water Retention then the water and nutrients Means the wines are often Quite structured quite powerful whereas The kind of lighter more fragrant Wines are often from a soil uh soils That are a slightly lighter sandy Alluvial which you get more towards the West In more ravel which we’ll take a quick Look at in a minute Next slide please julia here’s the Beautiful river la riviera Uh the um the doordarn uh big old river As i said it starts off Its life way up in the ovian in central France
Finds its way down it’s a big wide river Golly it’s about 400 kilometers long and It ends up Meeting the river garong uh just near Bordeaux to form the girond estuary that Massive estuary Uh that then flows out into the atlantic Okay And of course the river is important Historically not just for transporting The wine before we had trains and cars Or the rest of it But obviously um a terroir influence as Well As i’ve mentioned alluvial sandy soils And also in helping noble rot which We’ll come to In a minute okay And next time please julia let’s uh a Quick look again This is a classic winter vine scene this Is what you’d probably see at the moment Um winter vines so the vine is dormant And actually what’s really important With viticulture at this time of year January february Is that the in the vineyard you’ve got You’ve got to do your pruning And particularly under appellation rules Where you’ll have limits as to how much Wine you can produce the idea being that With lower yields You’re getting better quality wine Because you’re getting better fruit
Concentration That means you’ve got to sit on your bum In the vineyard with your calculator And work out how many buds you want on These lats these bits you can see on On the vines because these lats left and Right it’s called geo Uh is is the the replacement cane Pruning system they contain buds And it’s those buds that will form Shoots in march april and it’s those Shoots That will produce the fruit and it’s Therefore you’ve got to work out how Much wine you are able or want to Produce within the appalachian rules To give you the wine that you want so Pruning is really important at this time Of year Okay by the way usually there are about Eight Buds per each side on these lats on These uh double geo Winter vines that you’re looking at okay And in terms of sorry before we move on Just in terms of yields won’t bang on About it because it’s a bit geeky but Basically Bergerac um limit is 55 hectare liters Per hectare i’ll explain it in a sec And the cooked bergerac which is like Best quality Uh wines 50 hectare liters per hectare When you get to mombasiac a special
Sweet wine just 30. okay but taking bergerac 50 hectare liters hectolitro’s hundred So 50 hundreds That’s 5 000 liters per hectare okay Of wine just to give you an idea or if You want to imagine loads of bottles Sitting here sitting in a hectare of a Vineyard it’s about 7 000 Bottles something like that let’s move On julio Um just on this next slide again i just Want to highlight because of the damp Climate Green growth and so again controlling That green growth is really important And particularly making sure you haven’t Got too much shading of your fruit once The fruit comes out in the summer And also having cover crops uh not only Is it good for You know the micro environment and Encouraging Other life other than the vine it’s also Good to have some competition For the plentiful water supplies that Are delivered by the atlantic influence So you don’t vines don’t want too much Water they want a bit But they don’t want too much so you’ve Got to encourage other things to come And take the water Next slide please so when it comes to The red wines
Of bergerac which make up 50 half the Wine Wines are red um Melo is the dominant variety uh we’re Getting here Um similar to the right bank of bordeaux So No big surprise there given that the Right part of bordeaux is so close Buying Cabernet sauvignon you do find it can Ripen you need Obviously good ripening conditions it’s Late ripening cabernet But because it’s like can be slightly Warmer in beige racks sometimes Speak to producers they could ripen Cabernet sometimes in some years where Parts of bordeaux might struggle tiny Bit of cabernet franc But less precariously frank than you get In the right bank of bordeaux But you do get more malbec here um Malbec uh with the spiritual home of Cower down the road Uh is more there’s more malbec here than There is in berger And in bordeaux you do Rose wines make up about 10 made from Black grapes And the method they use here is um short Maceration so The skins are in contact with the juice Okay which is where the color comes from
To create these rose wines It’s not the delicate direct press Uh that gives you those ever so pale Pink ones from Provence i must stop going on about them You get a you get a quite a deep pink Here Not very very deep thing but it’s very Fruity pink Using cabernet sauvignon for the rose Interestingly okay And then moving on to the next slide With the green grapes and the white Varieties Again lots of variety here the classic One is the bergerat long sec And that will be made out of mainly Sauvignon blanc Okay and semi-on and incre and also Muscadel um semiong uh Semi on servion uh is well known Obviously you get that with bordeaux Sauvignon and others other sauvignon Semi on styles elsewhere The muscadille is more it’s more widely Used in bergerac Than bordeaux and it’s a wonderful grape It’s very fragrant it’s very oily It adds great weight mouth weight to the Wine Gives it a slightly exotic feeling in The mouth and texture And white wines make up about 40 yeah 40 Percent
Of berger example Okay back to the map so as i said The whole region and the numbers do vary Every time i look up the numbers they Change everywhere i look Um but around 10 to 12 000 hectares As i said half a million liters 0.5 Million hectares Okay which is about one percent of France’s output Okay fifteen percent of bergeron’s wine Is monbasiac Which will be which is the famous wine Region of bergeron we’re going to Keep saying that we are going there um And in terms of producers and gosh it’s Hard to find this out too but Literally i’ve had an email this Afternoon from the answer profession Professional development um There are amazingly around 850 Producers in the bergerac region they Are not all private chateau With their own vineyards doing their own Verification bottling and making their Own wine On the property you’ve got about 300 Independent producers doing that But you’ll have around 500 producers Producing grapes Okay that’s what they want to do Possibly selling them to a co-operative Or doing it And or making them doing sorry be clear
They’ll be making the wine in a carved Cooperative so they They can produce the grapes but they Don’t have the equipment or the Expertise to make the wine okay whereas That Applies to about 500 producers whereas You’ve got about 300 who can do the Whole lot Okay they’re they’re called independence Okay So uh you do have cooperatives and the Most famous cooperative as we’ll see Uh is in mombasa Okay next slide please julia Glo ademon pere another famous french Book by marcel pagno but it’s also a Lovely wine And made by one of bergeron’s top Producers called luke de conte At chateau tour de genre really happy to Say That this is available in the uk because One of the biggest challenges People have with bergeret wine is Finding it and drinking it Unless they’re in the region because Berger is only exporting around ten Percent Of its wines okay And let’s move on to that that glandular Pair so that’s a coat to bergerac And it’s equal proportions of mellow Cabernet sauvignon
And malbec next slide julia Here’s the guy who makes it luke de Conte De conte sounds a bit italian yeah well He His family come from the veneto in Northern italy but they’ve been in Bergeron for three or four generations He’s one of Four or five really leading wine makers That have kind of put bergerac On the map in the past 30 years or so He’s organic And he’s got some plots that are Biodynamic as well Just one quick thing and julius put the Link up to the previous one the Guatemalan pair in the chat Last week i had the pleasure of tasting One of luke de conte’s white wines Called the mulan de dam 2018 100 Sauvignon blanc i’m sure many of you out There like your sauvignon blanc This sauvignon blanc 100 Full bodied 14.5 Alcohol unctuous grapefruit apricot Mango and with a hint of oak as well Extraordinary never had a sauvignon Blanc like it It’s available from wine society in the Uk the link will be in the chat Okay to the map again we just want a Quick look here Um look to the wild west to the far west
You should see an olive green color Marvel I always want to say montrevil but it’s Morale And this is where you’re bordering Bordeaux so you’re again you’re you’re Literally here you’re bordering uh Coach castillon um okay sort of Not too far from from saint-emilion The reason i mention it is because it’s Part of the kind of conundrum that is Bergerac The wines here are often really lovely Some very good producers The tawa is very different it’s a much Lighter soil Slightly higher aspect you have these Terraces above the door down there you Have These lighter soils beautiful light Elegant wines The typical bergerac red wine can be a Bit rustic Still although some vegan wine making is Going on And you kind of think in monroeville you Know they’ve got Far more in common with their neighbors In cassion really than they have in Bears wreck But yet they’re in the berger Appellation that’s maybe good news for Bergeron but if you’re a producer in Moravel
And you’re looking across to the next Vineyard where they’re selling their Wines for two or three times Maybe not three times possibly twice the Price of the wines that they can make Because they are under the bergerac Umbrella And bergerac does not command the prices Of bordeaux And the next slide i just wanted to show You this because this guy Called frank hi frank um He makes a lovely medium sweet wine from A tiny appellation called Rosette again which is historically Quite popular they like it with an Aperitif Uh in this part of the world a bit of Foie gras of course But you can also have it with a bit of Blue cheese but the main reason for Showing that is In case you’ve forgotten that is called A handshake you know when you meet Someone and remember those days and we Used to touch them and shake hands with Them Just i just feel happy thinking about That handshake Next slide please julia Okay here we are long last mombaziac and I think if there’s any part of bergerac That’s world famous it is monbanzian i Mean the chateau there is a lovely
Renaissance Uh chateau built in 1550 But the area is best known for its sweet Wines okay and Let’s say sweet i mean now very sweet Dessert wines Or is the french call them i love this Word liquor earth Liquor for dessert wines that means they Have And they generally they they generally Have about a hundred and On average around 150 grams per liter Of residual sugar that’s a lot of sugar Okay Um and as i said the dutch as i Mentioned earlier really got this going Into the 15th 16th century created that Export trade that still Exists to holland to the lake countries It’s the semi on grape variety the white Variety with its thin Skin that makes it susceptible to this Incredible natural phenomenon called Noble Rot okay and It’s mom basiac wines which are very Similar everyone’s thinking Is it like sotan that you get in Bordeaux i’d say the top Mombanzia wine is as absolutely as good As a soten And there’s one producer called uh Chateau tiaco le graviere
And i think they’re italian run as well Golly what is it with the italians in Bergeret Just delicious unbelievable liquor Wines that as good as any so turns but Again Half the price but um let’s have a look A little bit at the noble rod because It is interesting i love this slide liz And i were at mountain basic Where they make some of the wines you Know they’ve got vineyards around the Chateau itself As well as having this carved Cooperative down the road where a lot of The mombasa wine is made Look at that bunch of grapes and i think The lady Holding that bunch of grapes that liz Photographed i think it’s fair to say is Not a a great picker I gather she has very refined hands Lovely nails But look at the bunch of grapes the top Ones are all Dark and they are fully rotten okay And then i’ll explain why that happens In a sec the ones below that Are white gray white they’ve got the Right amount of noble rot on them okay And at the very bottom you’ve got some Unaffected Grapes that haven’t got the rot at all So this noble rock thing
It basically happens in autumn it’s a Remarkable thing In the autumn and the autumns here are Very long okay it can be warm right Through till middle of november And so it’s a long growing season and What happens is if your vineyards are Near to water and this happens in other Wine regions of the world Um what happens is is that the Air temperature because it’s autumn Starts to cool down more quickly Than the river water or the tribute There’s a particular tributary of the Dordon or the gardenet And the vineyards close to here you’ve Got this cool Air from the autumn mornings uh relative To the relatively warm Water that’s been warmed up all summer And that creates a local mist That forms in the morning and it’s that Humid mist That causes the rot botrytis To form but try to scenario to form on The skins Particularly of the semion grapes which Are particularly susceptible because the Skins of them are so thin So the fungus starts to infrastrain the Grapes You’re thinking oh dear goodnight vienna For the grapes except What happens not always but by lunchtime
The sun comes out Burns the mist away and and Prevents really literally the total rot Setting in If the rot had set in totally then you’d Get the black Very dark grapes that you see at the top Of that bunch no you just have to chuck Them out unusable If you get partially infested infested Uh noble rock grapes From a morning fog that’s when you get The little bit the white bit And what happened those are the grapes That you want to pick The pickers have to pick and it’s so hit And miss as to when you’re going to get These conditions that you have to hand Pick You can’t machine harvest these grapes And the appalachian rules are Since 93 hand-picking only for mombasia And so by handpicking these grapes these Grapes the fungus Has had enough effect to puncture the Skins of the grapes To get to get the water out of the Grapes but not to ruin the grapes So by the water dehydrating as a result Of the fungus You get an amazing concentration of Flavors like peach and Apricot and dried fruits and wow they Can be seriously good
Seriously sweet if they were vinified Dry they’d be 17 18 but Because you want to have the residual Sugar you can calculate that You’ll probably get 12 13 something like That And the rest of course is registered Sugar which is the style of the wine Really amazing Okay let’s move on Okay very quickly last couple of slides Have to mention this talking of natural Phenomena Caro feely cara if you’re listening good Evening Paraphilia is a is a bit of a phenomenon She um is a south african Uh lady she and her husband sean Um so both south africans love their Wine they had Big cheese jobs in europe i think now They’re in ireland for a while and Certainly in dublin but their passion Was fine And about 15 years ago they Wanted to live the dream and they bought A wreck Of um the vineyard uh in an area called Society which is another sweet wine area Mainly Southwest of the region of the Beaujolais They did it up and they’ve created this
Magnificent chateau which is now called Chateau philly it’s pretty physically Called Oh gary it’s now called chateau philly They make terrific wines they are Biodynamic they’re not just Organic they’re biodynamic so I was about to say i know don’t know Much about biodynamic viticulture which Is Anyway just as well a because we’re Getting short of time And b because julia julia here who’s Moving on the slides and helping me Tonight Is doing a webinar next week on Biodynamics hooray So julia can deal with it all next week Suffice to say and i’m not taking the Mickey And biodynamics is a serious business Whether you believe in it or not and um And even luke de conti the guy showed You earlier he has some parcels Of his vineyard that are biodynamic even Though generally he’s organic And carry philly acara and sean philly Their wines Absolutely biodynamic so we’re talking No spraying at all Um we’re talking animal manure A watered-down ammonia animal manure to To water the vines we’re talking about Burying
Cow horns in the ground we’re talking About lunar cycles we’re talking about Rudolph steiner wow it’s another world And that’s all i’m going to say on it Because julia’s going to tell us more Next week But the other thing i’d say about caro Fili Is her story really is extraordinary Um oh one other thing to say this is Quite amusing although Carol and sure carrow and sean are Biodynamic Their neighboring vineyard is run by a Guy called nick Who is totally the opposite he sprays Everything And they get on really well with him Because they all get on with each other These wine makers even though Technically they’re in competition with Each other they whenever there’s a Problem they help each other out And nick i don’t know if he’s still There but was carol maybe still is caro And shawn’s neighbor Who sprays everything pesticides you Name it And they call him napalm nick i just Love the fact You’ve got napalm nick bordering Biodynamic shadow feeling But anyway if you want to find out more Another link going on the chat
You have to read cairo’s books i’ve only Read the first book she’s written three Or four And the first one which really just Documents the amazing story and what They’ve done Living the dream is called and i smile Every time i hear its title it’s called Grape expectations [Music] Um i just love the name of that book it Makes me smile and liz and topper and i We spent a couple of couple of times Over with um cara and sean she’s Terrific Very personable and my golly because of Our background in marketing which is Something the french are really I have to say sorry i know we got french Listeners tonight In a good way the french are not great At marketing um They’re great at producing but they’re Not always great at understanding Consumer demands and what customers want And that sort of thing I hope i’m not causing events there it’s Just not natural It doesn’t come so naturally to the French certainly not as much as it does To the british And to the europeans if you look at the Way chateau Philia marketing themselves you can
Check out chateaufini.com read carries Books Extraordinary what they’re doing uh you Can buy a you know Valentine’s day is coming up you can buy You can get a valentine’s pack from Chateau philly Complete with aphrodisiacs my god mind Boggles As well as some wine um Anyway do read her book She also does wine tourism before Visiting the air and i do urge people to Visit the area They do amazing wine tours both of the Both of the berger aqua And of the nearby bordeaux wine region They have a cottage there you can stay And caro is a wsct educator as well to Be which is Quite lucky um Almost finishing let’s go from cairo to Carol I just wanted to mention give a little Hi to Carol whose lovely lady who Is the owner of a lovely boutique In the beaumont the wine boutique in Beaumont du perego Small town where lisna and topper and i Were staying And she gave great education about the Wines of Bergerac and i also
Wanted to put this slide up because it’s Not i realize it’s not until you live In a wine region when you realize how Distorting your View can be of the wine world because When you live even if it’s only for a Year In bergerac you kind of assume You soon realize that bergerac wine is As you would expect because it’s such a Huge part of their Culture and their agriculture is the Center of the universe okay Um but what does it mean if you go into A wine shop and you want to try some Other wines maybe golly even from Outside france Heaven forbid well when liz and i were There Carol did stock a couple i think i Picked up a chilean Camp so once but it was quite hard but Generally French wines and contacted her recently She sent me an email And told me about the range of wives That are in her Carve in beaumonte perry gone this is How they proportion out Fifty percent half her wines are from The bergeron Okay no surprise there twenty percent From the rhone valley Ten percent from the longer dog ten
Percent from Other parts of south west france i.e Gayak These ones i mentioned earlier five Percent Other france you know just tiny little Areas like burgundy Hello alsace and luhar Um and just five percent From an area called bordeaux which i Think Is kind of uh interesting and what i do Also know Well i’d love to be proved wrong if Anyone’s on the line on the court on the Webinar from bordeaux tonight I’d love to know if you can go into a Bordeaux restaurant or wine shop And find bergeron wine because i just Bet you can’t I bet you can’t it’s it’s such an odd Thing there you go Living so close to it once being part of It but now being separate to it And yet two are so close but it’s almost Never the twain but i have to say did Taste a bit of bordeaux wine of course When we were there and if you want you Get a bit sick of rural Living and soggy puddles in the perigo In the winter You go to bordeaux and you have a Fabulous time of course you do Final slide is this
Lovely purple vine leaf and this again Is why The office the tourism in bergerac call It the Purple perigold le perigold por It’s because this lovely color that the Vine leaf can go in autumn and that’s That’s what it’s all about so we’re Coming to the end of this presentation So just Fake quick summary Bergerac or the perigord Historic distinctive wine region Confusing set of appellations not well Known Historically fairly rustic wines not Always a brilliant quality but Recently some some terrific wine Winemaking going on that has been Recognized but it’s still Under the radar and it’s because of Course on the one hand it’s Almost part of bordeaux but it’s not uh And on the other hand it’s in this big Great big bag called southwest france Most of wines have said it’s drunk in The region or it’s It’s it goes via major distribution Outlets to french supermarkets there’s This thing called Uh alliance accutane that gets most the Wine particularly from the Co-ops um that goes into the french Supermarket system as i mentioned
Earlier ten percent Of bergerac is exported you can find it In the uk through wine society Through tanner’s wines uh through H2va in london that’s more for trade But you can get some there you’ll have To google around and find it but Again it’s knowing like any wine region Um If you know your producers and there’s Some really really excellent producers In bergerac i’ve mentioned a couple of Them tonight You can have a you can have a really Really wonderful wine experience that Will not be expensive which i think is Important to say particularly in these Times at the moment So i think it’s time to have a pause i Might have a Slightest sip of uh bergeron sec And maybe we’ll have some questions Thank you all very much Thank you richard that has been Excellent Um so much appreciation coming in for You at the chat Currently that i can’t even read it Quick enough So lots of people here saying thank you And how much they’ve enjoyed it and how Informative it’s been Um if you Are up for a few questions we have had a
Few come in Um the volume seems to have increased Quite a lot in the last few minutes so Um i’m not sure We’ll have time to get through all of Them um some are a bit more specific And some are a little bit more general Um But let’s let’s have a go for a few Minutes if you’re up for that um And then if anyone has any questions uh That don’t get answered they can always Get in touch with us at uh school Educators at wct global.com Very happy to to do some written answers To any people if you don’t get to No problem oh that’s very much Appreciated Um all right you ready to go Yeah let’s um i’ll try i’m not sure how Many of these we’ll get through we’ll Start with um A more general one uh you obviously Mentioned a couple of producers As part of the presentation um but Georgie wants to know if there are any Uh well he was asked for three Interesting bergeron producers that must Be known or tried Yeah and my favorite producer Didn’t actually mention which is a bit Naughty of me but you know I’m only so much time i would mention The
Vino vinobler de verdo okay Uh verdo is v-e-r-d-o-t-s Vedo um and the guy he’s the Wine producer is a guy called david Fortu and verdo Is one again i think there are four or Five top producers and he’s definitely One of those top ones And the reason i love it apart from his Fact his wines are beautiful i’m Actually sipping one at the moment I’m sipping a 2018 clo De verdo it’s 75 sauvignon blanc Okay it’s 15 semi And it’s 10 muscadel and it’s absolutely Delicious It’s got the vivacity from the sauvignon But it’s also got this lovely Kind of mouth feel from the semi on a Bit of it’s slightly exotic from the Muscadine a slight oily texture it is Absolutely divine so verdo is my number One favorite Luke de conte as i mentioned at tour de Genre G-e-n-d-r-e-s is another Um they all have slightly annoying names It sounds a bit tricky to scribble down But uh Ancient cure is another one a guy called Christian rosh who is a Genius producer and carrie feely chatted Philly Very good producer biodynamic there you
Go there are four Excellent um a slight Alternative perspective here um Hans has made the comment that um He thinks that some of the wine makers Maybe don’t make enough of the Difference between Bergerac and bordeaux do you have an Opinion on that Yeah and i don’t i i I think i might ask that question Slightly differently i think i think the Pro I don’t think it’s much the producer’s Problem i mean in some senses the Producers hands are slightly tied aren’t They if they’re under the appellation System and it’s a bertrand appalachian System I think the question is broader if you Are head of Wine wouldn’t that be a great job head Of wine in bergerac I want that job um and i know we’re Talking about rewriting culture and History in a country like france which You just can’t Do very easily but if you were setting Out now would you Seriously create 13 appellations within Berger and give them all different names And some slightly different and Overlapping kind of names and Terminologies
It wouldn’t make sense i think you know I’m not a marketing expert but i know a Lot of people out listening tonight ah I think berger needs rebranding actually Um and so that bergerac name Needs defining and what is that story Because bergeron does have a great story But it’s so fragmented Through these diverse appellations i Mean let’s face it Wine as a category is fragmented isn’t It so how many wines are there It’s so difficult for customers or Potential customers to get their heads Around it I think that’s where it needs to come From it needs to come from the top Yeah that seems like a very reasonable Assessment Um change is uh Not that frequent in some of these rules Though is it So we’re talking about france and why And You know my favorite country in the World i’m not being disparaging But you know these matters are deeply Entrenched And france is a deeply conservative i Mean that with a small You know it’s a very conservative you Know culturally historically Convention is massively important in France more so than britain i think
So to change these things i think it’s Really difficult Yeah um well time will tell things do Change Um we’ll see what happens yeah i’m not Saying they can’t change But it might take a while to be Interesting yeah definitely Um i might skip over a few of the quite Specific vine training questions Um you can get in touch with us if you Want to know more on that um A question here about co-ops how Important are co-ops in the region Well funnily enough there are only four There are only four co-ops in the region One of them is Is a mombasa co-op which is the most if You like Prestigious co-op because as i mentioned You mentioned Um mom banks quite hard to produce with The noble rot So they have a really terrific co-op That has about 80 to 100 members and Of course it depends on the conditions You don’t get the rotten grapes every Time every year blah blah blah There are three other cooperatives and They are important and they are Doing a lot of as i mentioned a lot of The vinification for people who are Producers who are great at producing Grapes but don’t have the facilities
Produce the wine so cooperatives are Important But rather than being loads of small Coverages they tend to be three larger Ones In bergeret and again it’s that line i Suppose from Wine made in cooperatives that is a key In the market Particularly in terms of the french Supermarket Market if you started me and and also You do get a little bit making its way Into Supermarkets and deep discounters over Here little little occasionally do a Better rack Even sainsbury’s do one often i have to Say The labels are a little bit misleading As my friends and i found out recently It was clearly a wine made in a Co-operative that a negotiated got hold Of and blended some wine Stuck a label on it called it the duke The castiac Made up some historical story about Bears right And and stuck it on a wine level so you Do get a bit of that at the lower end of The spectrum but yes co-ops are Important yeah definitely But to be honest the real heart of the Interest of bergerac
Has to be the individual producers and They’re not exclusive they’re not Expensive And there are 300 odd of them so they’re Very accessible the The independents are very accessible Good stuff um topical question here Is climate change um a challenge to The producers or an opportunity to the Producers in Bergereck yeah i think that’s i think It’s both actually Um because the Alluded it to a bit in the talk the the Trend When we’re talking to producers and our Friends who live out there The trend now is for much wetter springs Followed by hotter summers okay So you’re getting a different type of Clearly it’s warming up and there’s Plenty of Evidence for that these past 20 years um I still think it’s okay because i think With the intensity of the weather Including the rain i think generally Speaking Fine stress is largely not an issue at The moment Here in bergerac obviously in a really Exceptional year at cambi and we’ve had Some hot summers recently and obviously Back in 03 um that was a tricky one because of
The intensity I think there’s enough water around for It to be okay but i’ve certainly got to Keep that keep their Eye on it and of course down the road in Bordeaux they’ve just announced some new Varieties haven’t they like um National from portugal that’s coming in Into bordeaux As a secondary uh variety so clearly Moves up a foot maybe that’ll come to Bergerac 2. Yeah that was um quite interesting news Wasn’t it talking about not many changes Happening There you go variety in bordeaux so yes Change can happen In south west france there we go we have Proof of it with that Announcement last week um I think a little two-parter here maybe Uh first off Um what is your preferred uh local food And wine match Yeah i’m sorry i didn’t talk a bit more About food but it’s uh Because it’s so much at the heart of it But uh There’s i’ll just give you one terrific Example of this actually Um i mentioned they love duck um In in the region if you can buy Confit fee you buy it in a tin It’s duct that’s already been cooked in
Its own juices and then Preserved in a tin you buy it for about 12 euros a tin You then undo the tin and it slithers Out looking like Cat food and quite appalling into a Saucepan You slowly heat it very very slowly for About 20 minutes i did this with my Friend mike Hi mike i’m sure you’re listening um And you then make some Pond salades which are like sauteed Potatoes that you add a bit of garlic to You then open a bottle of cote de Bergerat rouge which is a you know The best quality an oak aged bergerac Maybe la croix de mon pair would be a Good one And it is honestly sensational I’m not exaggerating to say i think it’s One of the best Food and wine moments of my life was When we had What looked like tin cat food heated up With the delicious garlicky potatoes Accompanied by A very well made coat the bergerac root Honestly it’s just heavenly really Really heavy With the mombasiac important thing to Mention They pair it with foie gras as an Aperitif and foie gras
As an imperative often with a glass of Mombasa if you don’t like foie gras and As you gathered i don’t It pairs brilliantly with blue cheese And you get some very good local blue Cheeses um With that sweetness um and the acidity In that Mombasa wine and blue cheese fantastic Well that’s made my stomach rumble yeah Even with the uh cat food comparison Um another question here I’ll just keep another couple i think um Nina says in bordeaux you’ve seen a Difference in quality levels for the Bergeron As in bordeaux have you seen a Difference in quality levels for the Bergerac region with the new generation Big investment to make these changes but Have you seen a movement Definitely definitely definitely and Again that movement That movement has only really been Happening um For the past um 30 years or so The likes of luke decontee and the guy i Mentioned david 42 At verdo dynamics Christian roche they are making such Beautiful beautiful wines And they are absolutely raising the bar In bergerac and again just generally Speaking
What’s going on everywhere this is what Amazes me Even in my life of wine which isn’t You know seriously that long in terms of When i’ve been Really deeply interested in it how good The quality of even quite Entry-level wines are and it’s because People are so much better with stainless Steel Temperature control in the winery and The viticulture practice is so much Better You know 10 20 years ago is all about Magicians in the winery And it’s much more now about experts in Viticulture who can just ripen their Grates perfectly they know How much to shield their grapes if it’s Going to be too hot or You know or whether planting them or you Know how they can protect their vines From From bad weather and that sort of thing Picking times knowing the right time to Pick Not leaving fruit to hang sometimes so It gets so so cooked and then you get These really Cooked stewie red wines that you would Have got 30 years ago That are really highly alcoholic which Was the style that people wanted because Robert parker let’s face it was driving
That style of wine 30 years ago Now people want less and the less Is more philosophy is really strong Across the wine World i think especially in france and And in berger We mustn’t just see bergerac as some Little backwater There’s some really yes it’s under the Radar but it’s a lot of quality wine Going on And this new generation and the guys That i’ve mentioned and carry feeling The likes of these people Are driving that forward at the moment Lovely um and sort of sticking with the Sort of winemaking theme um someone Uh is asking do we see some clay Fermentation vessels in the Conti photo oh Um experimentation with different uh Things as well so Yeah absolutely and that’s an example of It because luke de conte i mean he’s Getting on a bit now but his son and His family are all involved in uh Chateau tour de genre Yeah uh i mean he is he is an Experimenter As you gathered by that soviet unknown That i described Um he loves his amphorae and what does Luke do conti do He’ll go to he’ll you know a he’ll go to
China and try and sell his wines B he’ll travel to georgia i don’t mean Atlanta georgia sorry Atlanta georgia if you’re on the you’ll Go to georgia Former soviet union and look at how they Do winemaking there he’s big into Amphorae he He thinks that adds real texture to the Wine and gives it this lovely calm Stability whilst it’s uh In its post fermentation stage before it Goes into the bottle So yeah i mean he really he’s not just a Winemaker that guy luke Uh is more of an alchemist what he does With some of his wines are Really fantastic he also makes a pet mat Sparkling wine Absolutely revolting There you go i can’t can’t win them all The time i guess i’m sure some people Love it yeah Um that takes us to a sort of quarter Past Mark now so i think it’s probably time To call it a day even though