Cotes de Bergerac: Chateau La Mouliere White

First cultivated by the Romans, the South West is one of France's largest wine-producing regions, encompassing a vast and varied area to the west of (but not including) Bordeaux. Its local rivers, such as the Garonne and Dordogne, once played an important role in transporting the wines to market, though having to pass through Bordeaux and its protective trade laws left the region long overshadowed by its famous neighbour. Today, the South West is celebrated for its sweet, dry, and sparkling whites and its robust reds, made from an exceptional diversity of local grape varieties rarely found elsewhere. Its varying climates and elevations produce some genuinely distinctive and characterful wines.

Set along the Dordogne river just east of Bordeaux, Côtes de Bergerac is a superior designation within the wider Bergerac area, distinguished by stricter production rules, lower yields, and higher ripeness that give wines of particular concentration and structure. Applied chiefly to reds and sweet whites, its reds are built on the classic Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, offering full-bodied, age-worthy wines with ripe dark fruit and firm tannins. The sweet whites, made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle, are rich and luscious.