Where it was all happening today
The very warm spell that has blessed us over this last week or so broke this morning so I wished the best for the collective group of Les Comités des fêtes of Montmoreau-Saint Cybard, Saint-Laurent-de-Belzagot and Saint-Amand-de-Montmoreau. Between them they had organised their first Wine Fair and such events are normally predicated on wall to wall sunshine in order that they stay fixed in people's minds so everybody turns up again next year.
Saint Laurent de Belzagot is a tiny hamlet up in the Poitou Charente, situated about half way between Ribérac and Angoulême and seemed a somewhat strange venue to bring together 25 wine producers from all corners of France in order to sell their wares. Lesley and I were both pleasantly surprised as we pulled up in the early hours of the afternoon, to see some people already leaving, but all well laden with boxes of booty clenched tightly to their chests. I noted boxes of Sancerre, Champagne, Côtes du Bourg amongst others; all was not yet lost.
A fine selection of Philippe Prévot's Bergerac wines
Saint Laurent de Belzagot is a tiny hamlet up in the Poitou Charente, situated about half way between Ribérac and Angoulême and seemed a somewhat strange venue to bring together 25 wine producers from all corners of France in order to sell their wares. Lesley and I were both pleasantly surprised as we pulled up in the early hours of the afternoon, to see some people already leaving, but all well laden with boxes of booty clenched tightly to their chests. I noted boxes of Sancerre, Champagne, Côtes du Bourg amongst others; all was not yet lost.
People relaxed and chatting, enjoying a degustation
Despite the lowering skies there was a certain buzz afoot. People mingled and wandered from stall to stall chatting avidly with the producers and all seemed genuinely interested in what the producers were trying to acheive. It wasn't all wine, there was some beautifully colourful local walnut oil on sale, along with foie gras and many different types of cheese. We are always trying to source different wines for our wine list and prefer to buy from the small producers or Vignerons Independant whenever possible and these were well represented here.
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After a tour of the producers stalls which covered all the notable wine regions of France, from Chinon in the north, across to Burgundy and Alsace in the East then all the way down to Banyuls at the south eastern end of the Pyrenees before heading back south westwards taking in Gaillac and then Madiran. With such an eclectic range of wines to sample one had to remain a wee bit circumspect. We were not disappointed in any of the wines we sampled but finally opted for a case of Côtes du Bourg rouge 2007. Côtes du Bourg still remains an independent entity but its near neighbour, Côtes de Blaye recently shifted its labelling to fall under the banner of Côtes de Bordeaux. I think Côtes du Bourg is a good enough wine to stand alone and doesn't necessarily need the 'Bordeaux' umbrella to sell it. Only time will tell. Our Côtes du Bourg was sold to us by the delightful mother and son partnership of the family Darricarrère at Château Mendonce. A mixed box of Bergerac Rouge and Rosé Demi-Sec came from the Domaine Phillipe de Gravillac at Prigonrieux and we also took the last six bottles of Jacques Brumont's 2009 vintage of Pacherenc-du-Vic-Bilh. For those who haven't tried this very special sweet wine created from Noble Rot grapes, try it with some Roquefort, Fourme d'Ambert or Bleu d'Auvergne cut into cubes or maybe a with a few lightly roasted local walnuts. That's exactly what we did on our return home. Not a bad end to the day and something to remember Saint Laurent de Belzagot's first wine fair by.
Madame Darricarrère and her son of Château Mendoce in the Côtes du Bourg
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