Etienne Brana Vineyard, Domaine Irouleguy, Southern France
We visited the vineyard of Etienne Brana after spending the weekend in Espelette and Biarritz and St Jean Pied de Port, in the south west of France from September 2nd to 4th, 2005. These towns are in the Pyrenees Atlantiques region of France known as Pays Basque (Basque country) and are within 3–4 hour's drive of where we live in Toulouse.
The wine is certified as coming from the Appelation Origine Controlée of Domaine Irouléguy, a Basque winemaking region. The vineyard is situated on top of a large hill which was barely a 10-minute drive from St Jean Pied de Port. It was quite a climb (for our car) to get up there and there were quite a few little forks in the road, but luckily there were plenty of signs and we found our way easily.
At the top of the hill, the large brick tower, where the tastings are done, looms in an impressive manner over the vineyards. Each row of vines is preceeded by a beautiful bush of red roses. This makes a wonderful contrast to the lush green foliage of the vines with their big, juicy, white grapes with their pale, frosted green skin. The roses are there to serve a very useful purpose, apart from looking pretty. Apparently roses and vines suffer from the same diseases and the roses are the first to get sick. By keeping an eye on the roses, winemakers can prevent their vines from getting the disease.
We were the only two visitors on that hot and muggy day. The tourist season had recently finished and so we had the wine advisor all to ourselves. The tasting session is completely free and we tried all of their main products — well, I did. Yves had to sip and spit as he was driving.
We started with a rosé called Harri Gorri Pierre Rouge, 2004. It was very refreshing and had a gentle fruity bouquet, so we later bought a case of 6. Following this, we tried 3 different white wines which were all quite nice though I'm not particularly keen on whites. Next we tried 3 different reds which were really lovely and we bought a case of 6 of one of these. To finish, rather oddly, we tried a new basque aperitif called Txapa which they've been making for 3 years. That was fantastic and we bought 2 bottles. After the tasting, and a comparison of French and Australian wines with the friendly hostess, who must have been a bit younger than us, we thanked her very much and stumbled (me, not Yves) around the grounds for a look around. Before heading back to St Jean Pied de Port.
Etienne Brana Vineyard
Brana House
Roses at the top of a row of vines
Grapes
