Lapeyre Vitatge Vielh Jurancon Sec 2018

Jurancon winemaker Jean-Bernard Larrieu is the winemaker of the family-owned Clos Lapeyre. He lives just down the road from the domaine with his wife and two daughters, with whom he insists on speaking the local patois or dialect.

The winery has been in existence since the first World War, at which time the Larrieu family made more money from the sale of peaches and cows than wine. Later, in the 1960s, more emphasis was placed on grapes, which were sold to the coopérative. The bulk of the estate's money, however, came from strawberries grown on the property. Mp> In the early 1970s, the family were the first to replant their vines on terraces, something that has now become common in Jurançon. This beautiful system, in which vines are planted in a semicircle — like an amphitheater — guarantees better exposure to the sun, encouraging further ripeness of late-harvest crops.