The Madiran wine region of France is famous for its robust reds made from tannat but it is also the source of some fascinating whites from a relatively unknown grape variety, petit courbu, from an appellation that even French may find difficult to pronounce: Pacherenc du Vic Bilh.
A parcel of wine samples we recently received from southwest France caught my attention because it came from Alain Brumont, a leading figure in Madiran who has produced world-class reds for Chateaux Bouscasse and Montus for four decades. Recently, his stepson, Antoine Veiry, joined the domaine and since the 2018 vintage has applied what he has learned alongside Brumont (and from his experiences at Joseph Drouhin, Clos des Fees, Guigal and Carmes Haut-Brion, among others) to craft some of his own imaginative creations.
