Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh AOC – The Other Sweet French Wine

by Paige Donner

The World of Wine has endless gems in store for you to discover. That is what's so riveting about continuing along the path of wine exploration. Just when you think you've come across most of France's highlights, there are still more yet awaiting your discovery.

pacherenc du vic bilh vineyards

Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh is one of these wines. In a culture that tends to evoke the wines of Sauternes and Barsac when discussing sweet wines, this is a lovely discovery that comes from a different region in France, the Southwest. AOC Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh is just 40 km from Pau and in fact faces the Pyrénées.

The real difference of this sweet wine is not the time of its harvest, as it's harvested late in the year, from mid-November up until mid-December, similar to other sweet wines and much like the famous German and Canadian ice wines. No, the real difference is that these wines take their sweetness from their maturation and not from botrytis (noble rot).

The first historical reference to this wine, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, is from 1745 in a document found that forbids harvest that year before November 4th in this particular region of Southwestern France. That year the harvest took place mid-November during what's known as a sort of Indian Summer in that area of France, locally called the Summer of Saint Martin, l'été de la Saint-Martin.

Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Doux Saint Albert 2012

Named after the festival day during that Indian Summer, the cuvée Saint-Albert 2012 made by Alice and Paul Dabade (Barrique and Lot 7.1-7.2-7.3-7.4) is exemplary of this AOC Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh sweet wine. It's a blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Petit Courbu.  It was harvested late in 2012, starting December 12.

For the bouquet you can expect rhubarb and mandarin orange. On the mouth, the silky suaveness of the sweet is balanced nicely by a fresh acidity that hits you on the finish. As it ages it picks up notes of white truffles. If you like sweet wines this is truly one of the privileged sweet wines and relatively unknown simply because so little of it is produced.

Pairs well with foie gras and Roquefort; Also as an aperitif. For dessert it goes nicely with a fruit pie or tart and also light fresh sorbets such as passion or lemon. Serve 8-10°C.

Awards: Gold Medal, 2013, Paris Agricultural Fair

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Gérard Bertrand’s Book About His Life In Wine

All photos by Paige Donner ©

SEE The FULL PHOTO GALLERY on Chérie du Vin 

Gérard Bertrand celebrates his Book Launch Faust Paris December 17 photo by Paige Donner copyright 2014

Gérard Bertrand is one of those rare Frenchmen in wine - a former rugby star who took over the family business of wine when he retired from his illustrious sports career. Since his father George's death, Gérard has overseen the vast family business entirely, even launching the brand with considerable success into the US market in 2011.

A champion of bio-dynamic wines, Bertrand is also one of the biggest grower-producers in France's Languedoc region, a region that has historically been considered the wine barrel of France for its sheer volume of production. 

At his recent book launch at Faust in Paris, celebrating the release of his new book, Le Vin à la belle étoile, celebrated personalities from both the fields of sports and wine, as well as the Parisian demi-monde, came out to congratulate him - and to sip some of his new releases from his more celebrated estates of Cigalus (bio-dyanamic), Domaine de l'Aigle, and the wine from the Bertrand family estate, Domaine de Villemajou. 

If Domaine de Villemajou was a person it would be a generously proportioned Mediterranean woman with lots of charm to illustrate its rounded, silky, fine tannins.

The eight hectares that make up the plots of Villemajou are referred to as La Forge. These plots were Georges Bertrand's, Gérard's father's, favorite of his estates. It is part of the inland terroir of the Boutenac region in Corbières. These Villemajou plots, La Forge, reside on a Miocene hilltop.  The blend of the wine is of two emblematic regional varieties, Syrah and Carignan. 

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Food (& Wine) Books by French Authors Make Good Gifts

by Paige Donner

Any season is a good season to give the gift of an exquisite, illustrated book about food and/or wine. Here you will find three selections, all of which are authored by French experts in their fields of food and wine, Gérard Bertrand (wine), Eric Kayser (pâtisserie) and Régis Marcon (mushrooms). The books are printed in French, for now, but with such exceptional picture illustrations, they very easily span the cultural divide.

 
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Champignons by Régis Marcon

Selected here are Régis Marcon's book about Champignons, and I mean all kinds. This Loire-based three-star French chef came out with his book from Martinière publishing in 2013. In early December he won another accolade for it, this time from Champagne Collet who holds a culinary book competition every year, the Livre de Chef. The event's official name is Champagne Collet du Livre de Chef and you can read more about it here and more about the illustrious chef Régis Marcon's 416 page book about mushrooms, here.

 

Champagne Collet prix du livre 2014 Book by Régis Marcon, Champignons, photo by Paige Donner copyright

 

Champagne Collet prix du livre Chef Régis Marcon middle, Olivier Charriaud, ceo champagne collet, far left photo by Paige Donner copyright

 

Champagne Collet prix du livre book selection December 2014 photo by Paige Donner

 

Champagne Collet prix du livre chef Régis Marcon left, champagne collet ceo Olivier Charriaud, right photo by Paige Donner copyright 2014

 *Author's note: as a stunning example of the cultural communications chasm that still exists between France and the rest of the culinary world, imagine standing in a room of food and wine journalists at a chef's book award event in France and having everyone swear to you that they've never heard of Zagat's! No kidding. The main problem with this scenario is not ignorance, since not everyone can know about everything, even when it comes to such important food and restaurant Bibles as Zagat's (which does, officially, have a presence here in France, even since Google bought them out a few years ago). No the real problem with that scenario is the self-assured smugness of local, francophone culinary journalists and marketing/export teams who insist that if they haven't heard of something, there is no merit to it. I assure you, however, that even though my anglo restaurant and food critics friends got a thorough kick out of this anecdote, to stand in a room full of culinary journalists (mainly francophone but also New Zealand and Australian) and have them all glare at you when you insist that Zagat's is, most definitely, a foodie's Bible and is of great import in our world, is NOT a fun experience.

It is these cultural divides, no, strike that, communication chasms, that I will continue to tackle in my newly expanded radio program, Paris GOODfood+wine. You can listen to that on World Radio Paris.

By the way, the only thing that saved my neck from the threatened lynching at the above noted event was that, thank goodness, the CEO of Champagne Collet had spent a bit of time abroad and did know about Zagat's, knew it well, in fact. But imagine, the only one in a room full of culinary professionals, wine marketing and export pros, and food-wine journalists (for the French market) who did! YOWZA!

Next up:

L'Atelier Gourmand d'Eric Kayser

Boulanger Eric Kayser is the darling of the fresh bread world here in Paris. He also has five or maybe even six now, bakeries in NYC. All of which are flourishing.

This new book of his focuses on his pâtisserie offerings. It follows his previous book release in 2013 that was all about the bread. With 20,000 books sold, it has seen great success.

This new book, just released in time for the end of year festivities,  is all about his simple cakes achieved with great finesse. You will find 70 recipes and tons of mouth-watering photos in the book of things like: strawberry macarons, caramel cakes garnished with nougatine mousse along with the traditional French offerings of fraisier, éclairs, mini-financiers and other assorted cakes and fine pastries.

Find out more at Maison Kayser.

 

L'Atelier Gourmand d'Eric Kayser book photo by Paige Donner copyright

 

Eric Kayser l'Atelier Gourmand d'Eric Kayser book signing December 2014 Paris photo by Paige Donner copyright

 

Eric Kayser signing l'Atelier Gourmand new book December 2014 Paris photo by Paige Donner copyright

Gérard Bertrand, Le Vin à La Belle Étoile

Last, but not least, is the book for wine lovers, especially of France's southern wines. Former rugby star turned wine mogul, Gérard Bertrand, has just released his book, Le Vin À La Belle Étoile.  The success of the marketing of his wines in the U.S. in recent years has defied previous market trends, introducing the American consumer to affordable French wines. Bertrand is also a champion of bio-dynamic wines and a lover of jazz music.  My video interview HERE.

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