IGP Côtes de Gascogne shares the same land surface as Armagnac, in the beautiful French Southwest. The Gessler family settled here, in the heart of Bas-Armagnac, in 1928. We are now on the 4th generation – a robust family business with 20 full time employees. This is one of the more thoughtfully farmed properties – registered HVE 3 and in organic conversion. They tend to indigenous varietals such as Colombard, Ugni Blanc, and Gros Manseng, from which this wine is made.
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Wine Description
Vintage Notes:
2021
The character of the 2021 vintage is its multiple climatic hazards, with frost in April and a cool
temperate summer. The mild, dry winter enhanced a fairly early bud break in the vines, with increased sensitivity to frost at the end of March/beginning of April. The effects of frost were largely underestimated because not very visible, but on the most precocious grape varieties, such as Colombard, at harvest the yields were down 30%.
The vegetative period from April to July was marked by cool humid weather, which required
meticulous monitoring of the vineyard. Some mildew-related damage was observed on sensitive
grape varieties. The temperate and humid summer caused disease in certain sectors and most of all on the Gros Manseng, a very sensitive grape variety. To prevent this risk, part of the grass was removed at the end of June with trimming and leaf stripping kept to a minimum.
In mid-August, the summer heat caused hailstorms that affected part of Gascony with welcome
rain allowing a smooth ripening of the Sauvignon Blanc.
Warm and dry late August, picking of the Sauvignon Blanc began on 02/09/2021.
In Gascony, Sauvignon Blanc is the grape variety that performed best this year, it was spared from
the hazards; too late for frost, not sensitive enough for mildew, harvested early before the
September heat and softened by the mid-August rains.
2020: This was the year when Colombard performed to its best. Ideal summer temperatures with a cool mid-August provided the perfect conditions for both Colombard and Sauvignon Blanc to hit a high note of aromas. Nature was given a holiday from pollution in Spring with a 10-week National lockdown and this strengthened the vinestock remarkably. These two varieties blended with optimally ripe Gros Manseng and Ugni Blanc, give a finished mix with a superb balance of fresh vivacious fruit, delicate acidity and surprising length. Gascogne continues to be a great climate for crunchy and fresh white wines.
Gascogny, the mythical land of D’Artagnan that was once the epicenter of western Roman Gaul (2nd century), and that later the English held, is a beautiful part of the French Southwest – speckled with medieval hilltop towns. Gascogny had once 100,000 hectares of vines and now has just 15,000 hectares. Bordering the enormous Landes pine forest and wedged between the Atlantic and the Pyreneés, the vines breathe pure air and oceanic winds mixed with a warm foehn wind from the Saharan Desert. IGP Côtes de Gascogne shares the same land surface as Armagnac. Of the 3 subzones, our domaine is deeply in the Bas-Armagnac. The soils here are clay and sand, more specifically red sable and alluvial subsoil.
Having immigrated from Switzerland, the Gessler family settled here in 1928. We are now on the 4th generation – operating a robust family business with 20 full time employees. This is one of the more thoughtfully farmed properties – registered HVE 3 and in organic conversion. They tend to indigenous varietals with which dry white and red wines along with Armagnac are made.
Colombard is the offspring of Chenin Blanc and Gouais Blanc. This makes the grape the sibling of the Armagnac Meslier-Saint-François and the nearly extinct Cognac grape Balzac blanc. Tart and fruity Ugni Blanc is also known as Trebbiano. Gros Manseng is a dry varietal found in Jurançon wines.
