Lionel Osmin & Cie - Notre Sud-Ouest

NOTRE SUD-OUEST

LE SUD-OUEST, NOTRE TERRITOIRE

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The South-West is a preserved environment, between ocean and mountains, hills and valleys... between vineyards and forests of oaks or pines which host a rare biodiversity. A living and enchanting treasure to protect...

SINCERE

Spontaneous, without sophistication, where the given word still has value. Where you can be serious without taking yourself seriously.

Where we have the high verb and the marked accent. Where we treat each other as idiots as soon as we treat each other...

GENEROUS

A corner of France, where happiness flourishes... Its sweetness of life will always make you come back.
A prodigal and abundant land, the Southwest is a living museum, where the natural heritage enchants you, over the seasons.

CHEERFUL

The South-West, land of sharing, celebrations, festivals... which always end in a meal between parents, children & friends...
To the sound of harmonies, these festivities often end in song.
There is joy!

THE SOUTHWEST VINEYARD

LE VIGNOBLE DU SUD-OUEST

Vast and varied, the vineyards of the South-West cover four main areas: the foothills of the Massif Central, the middle Garonne, Bergeracois and Duras, and the foothills of the Pyrenees. The vineyards of the South-West should we say: there are more than twenty of them, with distinct terroirs, grape varieties and histories. The common point between the appellations, as far apart as Irouléguy, Gaillac or Marcillac, lies in the wines of character and in an incomparable range of local grape varieties (manseng, tannat, négrette, loin-de-l'œil...).

STYLE OF WINES

HISTORY

SOILS AND CLIMATES

The South-West is a real ampelographic museum of grape varieties of yesteryear, and nowhere else can you find such a diversity of varieties, some of which have emerged from the mists of wine-growing times: manseng, tannat, negrette, duras, len-de -el (far from the eye), mauzac, fer-servadou, arrufiac and baroque, or even raffiat from Moncade and camaralet from Lasseube. These grape varieties give the wines accents of authenticity and inimitable typicity; wines of all types and all colors, able to satisfy all connoisseurs: dry or sweet white, sparkling, tender or vinous rosé, light red or for laying down. Wines that mix with farm products with which they blend naturally, to make the South-West a privileged region of traditional gastronomy.

Main grape varieties:

Reds: 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 appearance of the rail, the vineyards of the Garonne and the Dordogne lived under the authority of Bordeaux. Thanks to its geographical position and royal privileges, the port of the Moon dictates its law to the wines of Duras, Buzet, Fronton, Gaillac and Bergerac. All of them then had to wait for the Bordeaux harvest to be entirely sold to connoisseurs across the Channel and to Dutch merchants before being shipped, when they were not used as “medicinal” wines to reassemble certain clarets. For their part, the wines of the Pyrenean foothills do not depend on Bordeaux but are subject to hazardous navigation on the Adour before reaching Bayonne. Their reputation has therefore only slightly exceeded the immediate vicinity. Many of these vineyards were created by monasteries in the 10th and 11th centuries, in connection with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, and developed in the 17th and 18th centuries thanks to Dutch traders who favored the export of sweet wines and spirits.

To the east, the vineyards of the foothills of the Massif Central, whose main appellations are Gaillac and Cahors, are planted on the sedimentary lands of the Aquitaine basin, as are the small and steep vineyards of Aveyron. The Middle Garonne, between Fronton and Marmande, includes a dozen vineyards located on the terraces of the left bank of the Tarn and the Garonne, in a temperate oceanic climate. The Bergeracois, concentrated around the town of Bergerac, naturally extends the Libournais and its oceanic climate, tempered by some continental influences; the vineyard of Duras being in turn an extension of the Entre-deux-Mers. The Pyrenean Piedmont (Madiran, Jurançon...), the mountain range in the background, is irrigated by the Adour and its tributaries and subject to the dual climatic influence of the Atlantic and the Pyrenees.