Many of us will have made the trips into the Gers and tasted the various speciality wines of the region, notably such as Floc de Gascogne (similar to sherry) or Pousse Rapier, a sparkling wine, but the everyday wines of the appellation are les well known. Locally here we are bombarded with Gaillac wines, many of pretty ordinary quality but Gascony is now pushing its sales up the league. Last year more than 10 million bottles were sold, the result of work by vintners to standardise the taste and colour of appellation wines and a marketing effort based on making the bottles have shelf appeal.
But "harmonisation" is not the only route. Some bio (organic) growers have found that abandoning the demands of the appellation and making wines without chemicals gives their production a variety of taste according to the seasons, but with careful controls gives a more interesting wine which can often sell at a premium price.
Either way Gascon wine is becoming more à la mode.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com
