WINE OF THE WEEK: Clos de la Vierge Le Carré de Peés Jurançon Sec 2023, Jurançon, France

£15, Laithwaites

I have no hesitation in using this precious Wine of the Week slot for another Jurançon Sec only weeks after the last. It’s not just that, as I said then, it’s one of my desert-island wines, or that it has been reduced in price by £4, it’s that Jurançon seems to me to be so emblematic of French wines.

Which other wine is said to have been pressed to the lips of an infant French king on his baptism? If there are others, we don’t know which wines or which kings. But we know about Henri IV and Jurançon. We know, too, that it was a favourite of Collette, that archetypal French writer. And we know that it was one of France’s first appellation controlée (AOC) wines.

Why, then, isn’t it as well known as, say, Bordeaux, Burgundy or Alsace?

Size and remoteness. The Jurançon appellation for both dry (sec) and sweet wines is barely 1,400ha. Bordeaux, even after the recent uprooting programmes, is about 95,000ha, while Alsace is around 15,500ha. The diminutive Jurançon is also tucked well away from most of France in the far southwest in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

That’s the setting. Let me tell you about this wonderful example made entirely from the Gros Manseng grape on the tiny – just 3ha – Clos de la Vierge estate, which, for the 50 years until 2024, was run by the two Barrère sisters, daughters of the founder. Sadly, Anne Marie died last year, leaving Christiane, the remaining sister, to take both reins. Christiane runs it today with a little outside help from winemaker Damiens Sartori – and from 96-year-old maman Barrère.

As for their 2023, Jurançon Sec is a wine that can smell sweet but taste bone dry and be rich in texture but mouthwateringly tangy. Clos de la Vierge Le Carré de Peés 2023 is all these things. And more.

It smells of honeyed quinces and freshly squeezed limes, with a small side order of mirabelle plum and spice. The palate has lanolin-smooth richness and a sustained, rapier-like salty, mineral tang. Absolutely delicious.

Pair it with sauced fish and seafood, including salmon and hollandaise, with creamy chicken, pasta and vegetable dishes, cheesy baked onions and firm and aged cheeses, especially sheep’s cheeses and aged Parmesan. 14.5%

Clos de laVierge Le Carré de Peés Jurançon Sec 2023, Jurançon, France

£15, Laithwaites

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