Côtes de Gascogne: Tariquet
Next to Eauze, the capital of the Armagnac, the biggest french privately held winery is situated, the Domaine du Tariquet with almost 1000 hectares of planted area. It is pouring, when I park my car in front of the Armagnac-Chai. Tariquet looks like a huge construction area. It is changing its face for the 100 year anniversary.
Pierre Artaud, a bear trainer from Ariège, who got wealthy in the US, bought this old Domaine in 1912. It was only concentrated on the production of Armagnacs until 1982 but then a revolution took place through the great-grandson Yves Grassa who launched the ’Classic’ on the market, a light, dry, nicely drinkable and pleasant wine of Ugni Blanc grapes, the first white and typical wine from Côtes de Gascogne. This wine conquered the world in a few years only. For the anniversary, Armin and Rémy Grassa who are leading the company now, add Sauvignon to the Classic for the first time, besides Colombard and Gros Manseng, which makes the wine even more attractive. And for the end of the year a novelty will be presented: a dry and slightly aromatic Gros Manseng. Obviously, a whole row of Armagnacs is celebrating the 100 years of Tariquet as well. After a few years of recession the demand for Armagnacs is noticably raising again. Therefore, the brothers have constructed and filled additional cellars. Their next projects are to plant Riesling grapes and the building of new cellars to give the red wines of Domaine Du Mage a new home. Typical and tireless dynamik from Gascogne.
