Motorbikes and the Dordogne

Wine, a beginners view

When I lived in Germany the only wine that I would drink was German white. Not the Leibfraumilch that they sell in the UK, but bottles from individual vinyards. I liked a sweet white and thought that all French white was dry. After moving back to the UK I developed a taste for red wine and they all tasted the same to me. After moving to this area of France, two years ago, I started to buy 2 or 3 bottles of very different wine, mostly from this area. Bergerac and Cahors wines are the ones I am talking about now, and I started to taste the difference.
The two bottles in the picture above are not really Bergerac wine but Cotes Du Marmandais. The one on the right is from a vinyard called La Vielle Eglise, a 2003, and is the most fruity wine that I have tasted. I bought 2 bottles of this and was so impressed that that I drove the 20 miles back to the shop and bought another 24 bottles. It cost me 2.30 euros per bottle.
The picyure above shows four different Bergerac wines and all cost less than 3 or 4 euros per bottle. The one on the roght is a Cotes de Bergerac which means on the edge of the region, this is also a very nice wine as those on the outer edges of the wine region tend to be.
Another Bergerac, but this time a white. This is not a dry but a sweet white and costs less than 2 euro per bottle. I don't drink much of this but it is very nice to drink, when I can stop Jude cooking with it.
In this picture are two bottles of Cahors wine (right) and a bottle of Pechamant.
The Pechamant is a special treat for me as It is a Bergerac red but from the eastern edge of the region. The soil there has heavy iron deposits and it shows in the taste. This area commands a more expensive price and can cost anything from 5 to 30 euro a bottle. But it is worth it. I open a bottle of this whenever we have visitors from the UK.
The two bottles of Cahors are very different, a much heavier full bodied wine, and quite cheap. The Carte Noir in the middle is for sale at around 1,50 euro a bottle. Even a 1996 Cahors can be bought for under 3 euro.
I used to think that red wine was for posh people and that they all tasted the same, but for very little money I have proved myself wrong. If there are any visiting BMW bikers who would like to taste any of these then they are allways welcome to visit. My wine rack here is not huge, but I challenge even the hardest bikers to try and drink all 150 or so bottles!

posted by madman @ 11:47 am