This sunny wine is a contemporary expression of the quality of the Tannat grape. The Madiran Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée is situated at the foot of the Pyrenean mountains in the area called Vic-Bilh meaning ‘Vieux Pays’ or the Old Country. Forty kilometres from Pau, the medieval village of Madiran gives its name to the appellation. Vines have been grown in this region since Antiquity and the wine’s reputation was first established in the eleventh century at the time the Abbey of Madiran was founded in 1030 by Benedictine monks and transformed 30 years later, in 1060, into a Priory. Madiran’s golden era was undoubtedly the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century when François 1st of France referred to it as “wine that aged very well” and Henri IV served Madiran wines to his most prestigious foreign and French guests in his Château de Pau. Tannat, a local, indigenous grape variety which is responsible for Madiran’s distinctive identity, is undeniably, King of the grape varieties. The cultivated surface area of 1400 hectares covers three departments: the Gers, the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Hautes-Pyrénées. Read Less