Summa cum laude vignerons.
There are many sorts of wine shows in France. There are international shows with wines from all over the world and regional shows with wines from a particular wine region. There are local shows with wines from one appellation. I’ve even been to wine shows celebrating one particular variety of grape. There are shows with just female winemakers, and shows that feature just natural or biodynamic wines. And this last weekend, I attended a wine show that limits participation to vignerons whose wine had received at least one medal from the prestigious Concours Général Agricole de Paris, the agricultural exhibition held annually in Paris to select and reward France’s best traditional products and breeding animals.
The Club des Vignerons Lauréats includes around 50 winemakers from throughout France. Over the past 20 years, these “decorated” winemakers have been meeting annually in cities throughout France. One of their stopping off points is Toulouse, near where I live. I’ve never attended one of their shows before, but I really appreciated the Club des Vignerons Lauréats concept, as 1) you know somewhat (I say “somewhat,” as just having received a Concours Général Agricole medal is not a guarantee of quality) that the wine on offer is good, and 2) participation in the club is limited to only four or five winemakers from each wine region, so the winemakers in attendance are among the best from their respective regions.
A large number of the people at the show were students from the engineering school on the western outskirts of Toulouse where the Club des Vignerons Lauréats was holding its show. I was happy to see so many young people interested in tasting wine, as, in general, many young people in France today seem to prefer beer or mixed drinks to wine. And it was obvious that many of the people were repeat attendees. There were mini reunions going on at many of the tasting tables set up by the winemakers. From the conversations, flurry of check writing, and the large number of push carts in evidence, you could see that these were loyal customers who must have been restocking their wine cellars with wine from different regions of France.
Bernard Plageoles (left) at the Club des Vignerons Lauréats wine show.
I was here primarily to introduce myself to a winemaker who I’ve wanted to meet for some time. Bernard Plageoles, from the Domaine Plageoles in southwestern France’s Gaillac appellation, and his father Robert make some of the most astounding red and white wines in France, from one of the country’s strangest assortment of regional grape varieties. The late Marcel Plageoles, the fourth-generation winemaker in the family, and the father and grandfather, respectively, of Robert and Bernard, collected antique varietals from local vineyards. But it was left to his son and grandson to begin experimenting with these all-but-forgotten varieties, including Mauzac and Ondenc for white wines and Duras, Braucol and Prunelart for red wines.
Bernard was the only Plageoles at the show—his father is “retired,” but he continues researching other forgotten regional grape varieties and publishing books about the Gaillac viticultural history (he’s already authored two coffee table books that are considered to be the definitive works on the subject). With a rugby forward’s bulk, and a wide smile on his face, Bernard Plageoles puts you at ease immediately. He had only brought to the show about half of the 15 different wines that he makes, and I enjoyed each and every one of them. One of the domaine’s signature wines is a rustic, white sparkling wine made with what they call the méthode gaillacoise. Mauzac Nature, which is made from Mauzac Gris and Mauzac Rose, is a dry, yet refreshing aperitif wine, with good acidity and pleasing notes of apples and grass. I can’t wait to try it in the summer with some Corsican charcuterie.
I even got a chance to try the Vin de l’Autan, a sweet wine, made from the Ondenc blanc grape, that has been compared to a great Sauterne. This is a powerful, expressive wine that can be kept for up to 100 years. Golden amber in color, it smells of melted hazelnuts with hints of citron and pineapple. It has a luxurious mouth feel and an elegant, long finish. The level and complexity of its olfactory richness reminded me of a good vintage Armagnac.
Needless to say, I will be visiting the Plageoles at the earliest opportunity to do a story about all of their wines and their property.
I wouldn’t say that the rest of the show was a disappoint—far from it, in fact, as I had the opportunity to taste the 2007 vintage of one of my favorite Corbières wine producers, Château La Baronne with its 120-year-old carignan vines, and I discovered some interesting producers from the Jura, Burgundy and Jurançon that will bear investigating.
