Lionel Osmin & Cie - Notre Sud-Ouest

OUR SOUTH-WEST OF FRANCE

LE SUD-OUEST, NOTRE TERRITOIRE

MAGAZINE 2024 : DOWNLOAD

OUR LAND, THE SOUTH WEST OF FRANCE

NATURAL

The South West of France is a preserved environment, one of ocean and mountains, hills and valleys, covered with vineyards and forests of oak or pine and home to a rich biodiversity. It is a natural environment unlike any other, an environment to be protected and treasured...

SINCERE

Spontaneous, without affectation, where our word is our bond.

Where we can be serious without taking ourselves too seriously.

Where we speak loudly and with a strong accent.
Where we are quick to make friends!

GENEROUS

A small corner of France, where happiness abounds... Its relaxed way of life will draw you back time and time again.
A land of abundance and plenty, France's South West is a living museum with an incredible natural beauty that evolves over the seasons.

JOYOUS

The South West of France is a land of sharing, celebrations and festivals... which always end with parents, children and friends enjoying a meal around the table...
To the sound of a band, these festivities often end in song.
This is a joyous land!

THE WINE REGION OF THE SOUTH WEST

LE VIGNOBLE DU SUD-OUEST

The vast, diverse wine region of France’s South West embraces four main areas: the foothills of the Massif Central, the Moyenne Garonne, the Bergerac and Duras, and the Pyrenean foothills.

We should probably say the "wine regions" of the South West in the plural because there are over 20 of them, each with its own terroir, grape varieties and history. The common denominator between all these different AOCs, situated as far apart as Irouléguy, Gaillac or Marcillac, is their wines of character and exceptional array of local grape varieties (Manseng, Tannat, Negrette, Loin-de-l'oeil, etc.).

WINE STYLES

HISTORY

SOILS AND CLIMATES

The South West of France is a veritable ampelographic museum of the grape varieties of yesteryear.

Nowhere else will you find such a diversity of varietals, some of which have reemerged from the mists of winegrowing history: Manseng, Tannat, Négrette, Duras, Loin-de-l'oeil, Mauzac, Fer-Servadou, Arrufiac and Baroque, as well as Raffiat de Moncade and Camaralet de Lasseube.

These grape varieties lend the wines their inimitable and authentic character and allow us to offer wines to suit all palates: dry or sweet whites, sparkling wines, rosés of various shades, light-bodied reds or reds for cellar-ageing.

These wines pair naturally with the local farm produce, making the South West of France a great region for traditional gastronomy.

Main grape varieties:

Red: Braucol Mansois, Tannat, Malbec, Prunelars, Syrah, Merlot, Duras, Cabernet Franc, Abouriou, Négrette...
Whites: Petit Manseng, Gros Manseng, Colombard, Loin de l'Oeil, Ugni Blanc, Mauzac, Ondenc, Sémillon, Baroque, Raffiat de Moncade, Courbu, Sauvignon Blanc...

Until the advent of the railway, the Garonne and Dordogne wine regions were controlled by
the wine traders in Bordeaux.

Thanks to its geographical location and royal privileges, the "Port de la Lune" in Bordeaux called the shots when it came to the wines originating from outside Bordeaux, in Duras, Buzet, Fronton, Gaillac and Bergerac.

All of these wines had to wait until the entire Bordeaux harvest had been sold to wine lovers across the Channel and Dutch négociants before being loaded onto the ships (that’s if they had not already been used to "doctor" certain clarets, i.e. to bolster them!). The wines from the Pyrenean foothills, however, did not answer to Bordeaux but still had to navigate the hazardous Adour River to
reach Bayonne.

Their reputation did not therefore extend much beyond the local area.

Many of these vineyards had been planted by the monasteries associated with the Saint James Way in the 10th and 11th centuries and developed in the 17th and 18th centuries to meet the demand of Dutch négociants seeking sweet wines and eaux-de-vie for export.

To the east, the vineyards of the Massif Central foothills, with its main AOCs of Gaillac and Cahors, are planted on the sedimentary soils of the Aquitaine basin, as are the small, hilly vineyards of the Aveyron. The Moyenne Garonne, lying between Fronton and Marmande, consists of a dozen vineyards planted on the terraces of the left bank of the Tarn and the Garonne rivers, in a temperate oceanic climate. The Bergerac region, concentrated around the town of Bergerac, is a natural extension of the Libourne region with its oceanic climate, tempered by continental influences; while the Duras vineyards are an extension of the Entre-deux-Mers region.

Set against the backdrop of the mountain range, the Pyrenean foothills (Madiran, Jurançon, etc.), are watered by the Adour river and its tributaries and are subject to the climatic influences of both the Atlantic and the Pyrenees.