Madiran

Madiran, dynamic distinctive red wine appellation in south west france which has gently remodelled its concentrated, traditionally tannic wines, gascony’s signature red.

There are said to have been vineyards here in Gallo-Roman times, and certainly the wines of Madiran were appreciated in the Middle Ages by pilgrims en route for Santiago de Compostela. About 1,200 ha/3,000 acres south of the greater armagnac region produce Madiran. Soils are mainly clay and limestone with so-called grebb, or grip, granules and pebbles strengthened with iron and manganese oxide from Pyrenean glacial alluvial deposits. The climate in Madiran is softened, and often moistened, by the Atlantic to the west, but autumn is usually dry.