Jurancon

"Jurançon is one of France's most distinctive white wines" (Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, World Atlas of Wine, Mitchel Beazley).

Département - Pyrénées-Atlantiques
AOC status - since 1936 (Jurançon), 1975 (Jurançon Sec) - vendanges tardives permitted since 1996
Surface - 1,060 ha
Soils - chalky clay and clay-silica marls
Production - 44,000 hl
Grapes - Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, Courbu, Camaralet, Lauzet

See Chateau de Jurque South-West France Map

Actually there are two appellations here: wines are dry (Jurançon Sec) or moelleux - sweet - (Jurançon), made from Petit and Gros Manseng and, sometimes, Courbu. The most interesting of these varieties is Petit Manseng which accounts for around 30% of plantings and, certainly, the best sweet wines are produced entirely from late-harvested Petit Manseng and the better dry wines are this that include a significant proportion of it. Vines have to be trained high to avoid damage from the spring frosts. Chateau de Jurque is a fairly new acquisition for Château Jolys owner, Marion Latrille, who hit upon the brilliant idea of using 50% of the superior Petit Manseng in her Jurançon Sec, a particularly fragrant example. The observation in the World Atlas of Wine is, without a doubt, true; it's only a shame that more consumers haven't discovered this - yet.