This is the third example of Jurancon that I've tried. Unfortunately my first try was that of Clos…read moreConcaillau, which so far seems to be the epitomy of this style of wine. The Clos Lapeyre is no slouch however, it's just slightly below that of Concaillau. A relatively new vintner (mid 80s) with focus on organic methods in growth. Very herbal, earthy, with a sting of sweetness.

Domaine Bayard is located about 25 minutes by car from Pau (closest city with an airport)…read moreimmediately neighboring several other small-scale vineyards. You'll drive on country roads and through many roundabouts to reach this modern vineyard that hosts weddings, office happy hours, or small private tours. The current owners have had the vineyard since 2016 and have built some new facilities. Jurançon wine, a white, is made only in this SW region of France with many vineyards overlooking the Pyrenees. We booked a fantastic tour & lunch through Winalist website. Franny was our hostess with the mostess and she speaks excellent English. The tour goes into the vineyards and into the storage and processing rooms where Jurançon is made. Franny taught us agriculture techniques like pruning the vines as well as wine processing techniques like how to produce sparkling wine and remove stems. If you book the tour with the lunch, the food is always of local cuisine. For us, it was quail filets, piperade veggies, cheese, meats, and a basque almond dessert. The value for the lunch and experience is exceptional. You won't go home hungry.

Because of the recommendation of coworkers who had been before, I checked out this wine and liquor…read moreshop in the heart of Pau. You'll find no shortage of local wine, including Jurançon. The lady who helped us is British originally so she could converse with us (Americans) thoroughly on recommendations. We even received complementary tasters of local liqueurs, and I purchased a verbena one. Employees were hard at work setting up a big table for a private dinner to be held that night in the middle of the shop. A local winemaker had also composed his own music and painted his own wine bottle labels for them to have a night celebrating his works. Clearly this shop supports other local events too as they have posters for other Pau festivals/concerts.

I purchased an expensive bottle of red wine and that night we were disapointed after tasting it…read more We all agreed that we must have got a bad bottle. We tried to return to the store, and they refuse to have it exchange telling us that it was a great bottle.

Vignoble datant d'une cinquantaine d'années. Son fondèrent légua a ses filles qui l'ont vendu à M…read moreMichel Boutin qui continuera de le faire évoluer. Ils sont très bien installé. Ils ont une belle qualité de vins. Le mousseux est jeune et n'a rien à envier à certains champagnes. Les blancs sont prêts à boire. Une journée chaude rien de mieux que le Regain de Fraîcheur. Il est aussi propriétaire d'un autre vignoble, Manzanos, au nord de l'Espagne. J'ai bien aimé les rouges de ce vignobl Vignoble datant d'une cinquantaine d'années. Son fondèrent légua a ses filles qui l'ont vendu à M Michel Boutin qui continuera de le faire évoluer. Ils sont très bien installé. Ils ont une belle qualité de vins. Le mousseux est jeune et n'a rien à envier à certains champagnes. Les blancs sont prêts à boire. Une journée chaude rien de mieux que le Regain de Fraîcheur. Il est aussi propriétaire d'un autre vignoble, Manzanos, au nord de l'Espagne. J'ai bien aimé les rouges de ce vignoble. La dame qui nous a reçu était formidable. Elle s'appelle Salomée. Elle connaît très bien l'historique du vignoble et nous décrit les vins comme une experte. Bravo à vous Salomée.

Entering an Auberge always brings back dark memories of Chris Rea's song of the same name being…read moreplayed on long car journeys of my youth. This impression was not improved when I entered this restaurant (situated just outside Monein) to find that it was completely empty of patrons and staff. After wandering around for a while Madame Rose appeared and thereafter the echoes of Rea's 'classic' vanished from my mind as I was thankfully distracted by this restaurant's excellent cooking. To start, I opted for duck which was skewered, cooked rare and served with a chicory salad. The salad was the key to the dish as the slightly bitter and acidic chicory was perfectly complemented by the rich duck. Matters improved further with a main course which combined morels and sweetbreads in a delicious filo parcel. It was not what I had been expecting (the dish had been described as a "cassoulet") but the combination was nevertheless wonderful. I finished the meal with the kind of cake that you only seem to find in France - delicate layers of different red fruit mouse and jelly balanced on top of one another to eye catching effect. It tasted as good as it looked - each bite was an explosion of decadent fruit. The only slight disappointment (in addition to the welcome) was the wine list which was fairly brief although it did feature a brief but good selection of wines from the region (with lots of half bottle options). However, the food was great and Auberge des Roses is well worth a visit if you are in the area.