M de Pentes de Barène

In May of 2017, I wrote a post about a wonderful visit we had to Domaine les Pentes de Barène in Tursan, an tiny wine growing region in the SW of France.  I mentioned that our host, Gaelle Vergnes, had given us two bottles from their first ever bottling of a sweet wine, which they make uniquely from the petit manseng grape.  They call this wine “M de Pentes de Barène” and the entire 2016 production was only 250 bottles.

Sweet wines from this region have the capability to age for a number of years, so, accordingly, one of those bottles is currently slumbering peacefully in a cool spot in our house in Orthez. The other made the trip back to Seattle with us.

Madame Vergnes recommended that this wine not be tasted before August of 2017, so we obediently resisted the temptation to crack it open until this month.  We had our first taste in the company of a platter of the Jambon de Bayonne, the iconic ham from the SW of France.  Délicieux!