On the nose the typical aroma of apricot and citrus of the Manseng grapes comes forward, although in a faint version. In the mouth there is a prickly acidity at a level I personally find kind of disturbing. Beside some light apricot hint, no aftertaste worth mentioning.
Jurançon is, along with Marcillac, Gaillac, Fronton and Madiran, one of the five French AOC I intended to visit in July during my last trip to France with my son. Instead, after having explored the Malbec’s dominated vineyards around Cahors and the pilgrims’ town of Rocamadour, I choose to follow the Dordogne back to Bordeaux and head for the beach.
I’m confident that each one of these denominations, with their unique grape varieties like Fer Servadou/Braucol, Duras, Négrette and Tannat, would have offered some interesting wine adventures. On the other side, after having experienced the broad spectrum offered by the wines of Cahors I decided that it was not really worth going through the required driving. In the Lot Valley I found a wide span of Malbec based wines, some pleasantly fruity and ready to drink, some austere and age-worthy, others not really worth tasting.
I suspect that in the lesser known denominations mentioned above, the experience would have been similar: sometimes satisfying, oftentimes disappointing. As it is the case with this Jurançon: despite the influence in the region of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and my liking for the Gros and Petit Manseng grapes, this white wine is not as satisfying as others I tasted in the past.
I drank this wine while visiting the charming medieval town of Sarlat-la-Canéda, developed around a Benedictine abbey of Carolingian origin, but didn’t get much out of it. For this bottle I paid 7.70 EUR at a mini market in town.
Country: France
Region: Jurançon
Grapes: Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng
Type: White
Vintage: 2017
Producer: Cave de Gan
Price range: Economic (<15 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 2/5