Wine features brought to you by The Oxford Times Wine Club

Stretching south from the Bordeaux vineyards all the way to the Pyrenees and then east towards Toulouse is an area that the wine trade refers to simply as the south west'. This is one of France's most rural and sparsely-populated regions yet it is steadily and determinedly making its presence known in the UK.

Chunky, rustic reds from the appellation contrôlées of Cahors and Madiran have a loyal if niche following, but it is the success of the more modest Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne that is to be congratulated.

The vineyards of the Côtes de Gascogne span 37,000 acres across the départements of Gers, Landes and Lot-et-Garonne. Four decades ago the production of still white wine, on any serious scale, was unheard of because this is the geographic home of Armagnac.

In terms of its economic survival, the area was fortunate to have the vision of Madarin born and bred, André Dubosc, on their side. Today he is one of France's most widely-respected wine professionals and spokesman for the South-West Regional Partnership. In the 1970s he noted that Armaganc "would only ever be a niche product . . . not a product that would make enough money for the region to live on".

Slowly but surely, producers began to turn the white grapes of Armaganc: colombard, ugni blanc and gros manseng into still white wines. Plantings of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc have grown too and whilst many thought that the idea of making still white wines was crackers all those years ago, the Côtes de Gascogne is now France's leading producer of white vin de pays.

Eighty per cent of production is exported and almost half of that comes to the UK. Given the competitiveness of our home market this is no mean feat.

The Regional Partnership encourages winemakers to travel so that they can acquire the best possible understanding of the export market. Weekly English lessons are on offer too so that when that all important buyer comes knocking on the door, they're ready and able to talk the talk!

Yves Grassa, of Domaine de Tariquet, is acknowledged as one of the Côtes de Gascogne's leading winemaking talents. The domaine turned its primary focus away from Armagnac and on to white wines in the early 1980s, and since then has scooped up more awards, medals and commendations than is decent.

The vineyards are to be found just outside Eauze and are planted on dark sandy soils that bring refreshing acidity to the wines. As Grassa acknowledges "good wine can only be made from good quality grapes". The unique vineyard climate gives the grapes ample time to rest and develop aromas in the skins. A factor that Grassa believes contributes significantly to the success of his wines.

Having studied at the world-class Davis Institute in California, Grassa was keen to use the best of winemaking technology. He was the first in the region to allow the grape skins to spend time with the juice. Known as macération pelliculaire', it's a technique that produces more flavourful wines.

The recent London International Wine and Spirits Fair provided me with an opportunity to taste the Tariquet range and what a delight it was. I mostly adopt a scoring system that sees wines allocated a mark out of ten; sometimes I'm having far too good a time to do anything so sensible. Referring back to my tasting notes, I see that my page is annotated with a significant number of sketched smiling faces . . . always a good sign!

The 2006 Ugni-Blanc Colombard was fresh, aromatic and had excellent density of fruit on the palate. The 100 per cent Sauvignon Blanc 2006 was a gooseberry-fresh, lime scented charmer. I loved the 2006 rosé; a blend of merlot, syrah and tannat it was brimming over with generous, lightly-spiced raspberry fruits. Each of these retails at under £6 a bottle and represents unbelievable value.

The Tariquet wines are available through the Oxford Wine Company under the name, Domaine du Mage'. The Oxford Times Wine Club offer this week is a case full of these hugely-enjoyable wines - a steal at only £65.

For The Oxford Times Wine Club wine offers click here

1:28pm Friday 29th June 2007

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