October 11, 2024

A Tour of Bergerac

Discover Bergerac, one of France’s best kept wine secrets. East of Bordeaux, Bergerac steps out of its neighbor’s shadow with its outstanding red, white, and sweet wines.

It is hard to imagine that there is anywhere left to explore in France, the world’s most famous vinelands and the epicenter of the global wine industry. But look hard enough, and France still holds an astonishing number of regions barely touched by even the most devoted lovers of wines.

Among these is Bergerac—an outstanding wine region that, sadly, has long been dwarfed in acclaim by neighboring Bordeaux. Bergerac may be more recognized for its resident poet, Cyrano (made famous by Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play), but the Bergeracois are equally proud of their rich, century’s long history of winegrowing. Bergerac’s wine story is one of perseverance, and one ripe for discovery.

A Brief Bergerac History

It is impossible to recount the history of Bergerac without discussing Bordeaux, its more famous neighbor to the west whose shadow Bergerac has evaded to fully escape over the course of a millennium. For much of Bergerac’s early winegrowing history, its wines were the more revered in quality of the two regions. Indeed, Bergerac’s natural landscape seemed better suited to viticulture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras. Whereas Bergerac features an undulating, hilly terrain, well established to ripen wine grapes, Bordeaux’s famous Left Bank was marshland, completely inhospitable to winegrowing, until Dutch merchants arrived in the mid-17th century and drained the Médoc. Bergerac, by contrast, was drier, further inland, and capable of yielding its famous “black wines” of remarkable comparative depth and concentration.

Bastide de Beaumont du Périgord

Any geological or meteorological advantages Bergerac enjoyed were further blockaded by various political and economic forces enacted by the Bordelais. Bordeaux, importantly, was further downstream the Dordogne and a major port. Accordingly, any export ambitions Bergerac held were at the mercy of Bordeaux, who leveraged its position to stifle its neighbor’s trade. From the end of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453 until nearly the time of the Revolution more than three centuries later, the legally decreed “Privilege of Bordeaux” granted the region exclusivity on export trade each vintage through Christmas. As the ports generally closed thereafter until spring, bordering wine regions had to wait several additional months to see any profit from their harvest, leaving them economically devastated. Wine writer Jon Bonné describes a “frustrated, fertile crescent” of such affected regions surrounding Bordeaux with high quality potential, but little opportunity. Bergerac was, fortunately, exempt from the Privilege of Bordeaux, but still faced debilitating taxation. Furthermore, since the Hundred Years’ War, Bergerac was a Protestant Huguenot stronghold, inviting tense religious conflict with their Catholic neighbors.

The economic disparity between Bordeaux and Bergerac can still be observed today, and for much of its more recent history, many winegrowers in Bergerac have chased the styles and practices perfected in Bordeaux. Many of those wines demonstrate exceptional value, and they are also joined by a new generation of winegrowers seeking to untether Bergerac’s identity from Bordeaux’s. Their more experimental wines incorporate a philosophy that at once embraces Bergerac’s unique heritage, while simultaneously seeking a more global worldview of tastes and winemaking ideas.

The Lay of the Land

Bergerac sits due east of Bordeaux on the banks of the Dordogne River, which meets with the Garonne to form the wider Gironde, before emptying into the Atlantic. Its landscape is bucolic and breathtaking—a series of rolling hills emerging from the Dordogne’s banks and peppered by magnificent medieval châteaux in this “land of 1,000 castles.” It is a place of gastronomic abundance, where Michelin stars abound and chefs make use of the wider Périgord region’s famous foie gras and black truffles.

Vines and grapes in the Dordogne

In many ways, Bergerac’s geography is quite similar Bordeaux’s Right Bank and the famous appellations of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. Bergerac enjoys ample limestone soils, as well as streaks of blue clay, which notably define the terroir of Pomerol’s esteemed Pétrus. Being more continental, however, Bergerac features warmer summers, allowing for more consistent ripening, lower disease pressure, and the capacity for opulent styles, if desired.

The entire region can be bottled under the umbrella Bergerac appellation, which allows for red, white, and rosé styles. White wines are typically blends of the zesty, citrussy, and grassy Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, which provides further structure and a palate-coating, waxy texture. Muscadelle might also be added for floral lift. Red wines are generally similar to Right Bank blends—dominated by Merlot, with its pillowy, velvety tannins and plush plummy flavors. They are often assisted by Cabernet Franc, with its savory violet and white pepper flavors, and the brooding Cabernet Sauvignon, which lends a firmer tannic spine and tobacco and cassis notes.