Bergerac Zodiac

The first sign of the zodiac is a starter: brave, impatient, competitive, and happiest when something is just beginning. You like your wine the way you like your plans, with a little heat and no hesitation.

La Patte de L'ours means the bear's paw, and Aries swings first. It was the first red poured at the masterclass, from 50-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon vines that soaked on their skins for five weeks. Mars would approve of that kind of grip.

Your appellation

Cotes de Bergerac Rouge, the stricter, riper step up from plain Bergerac.

The bottle

Chateau Masburel, La Patte de L'ours 2020. 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 10% Malbec, 14%.

Finding it

Imported by ReNout Sourcing.

Pair it with

A cote de boeuf over vine cuttings, or duck confit with potatoes fried in the duck fat.

Sommelier's tip

This is a Cabernet that wants air. Open it an hour ahead and give it a big glass.

Venus rules you through the senses. You are steady, loyal, and stubborn about quality, and you care how a wine feels as much as how it tastes. Comfort is not a weakness; it is a standard.

Taurus is the earth sign that loves pleasure, and this wine was literally raised in earth: 30% spent 18 months in clay jars, the rest in big 400-liter Troncais barrels, bottled with no filtration. Plush Merlot from Pecharmant, the only all-red appellation in Bergerac. Venus in a clay pot.

Your appellation

Pecharmant, the red-only hill above the town of Bergerac.

The bottle

Chateau Mondazur, Puy de Graves 2020. 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, 15%. Fine gravel over compact blue clay.

Finding it

Imported by Anasazi.

Pair it with

Magret de canard with cepes, or anything with a shaving of Perigord black truffle.

Sommelier's tip

It's built for 10 to 15 years. Unfiltered means a little sediment, so stand the bottle up the day before.

Mercury makes you quick, curious, funny, and social, with at least two opinions on everything. You light up with variety, conversation, and a good argument.

Montaigne was born in Montravel, and he invented the essay by arguing with himself for twenty years in a tower. His motto was "What do I know?" That is Mercury in a nutshell. The wine is a three-way conversation too: Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle, fermented together in steel.

Your appellation

Montravel, the western edge of Bergerac, where Montaigne wrote.

The bottle

Chateau Masburel, Le Consul de Masburel 2021. 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Semillon, 25% Muscadelle, 14.5%. Biodynamic.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Trout with almonds, or a cabecou goat cheese salad with walnuts.

Sommelier's tip

Don't serve it too cold. The Muscadelle's floral side shows up once it warms a few degrees.

The Moon makes you protective, sentimental, and deeply tied to home and family. You remember everyone's birthday and exactly what they drank at it. Your table is where people feel safe.

Ruled by the Moon, and this wine is picked by moonlight. The grapes are harvested at night, given 15 hours of skin contact, and then guarded from oxygen like a crab guarding its shell. No sulfites are added, so nothing stands between you and the fruit.

Your appellation

IGP Perigord Blanc, Bergerac country outside the appellation rules.

The bottle

Terroir Grinou, "Rien de Rien" Sans Sulfites Ajoutes Blanc 2025. Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, 13%. Organic, with a Demeter biodynamic vineyard.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Grilled river fish, or a warm goat cheese toast with honey.

Sommelier's tip

No added sulfites means drink it young and keep it cold. Finish the bottle the night you open it.

Ruled by the Sun itself, you are warm, generous, dramatic, and built for center stage. You love hard, host big, and never do anything halfway.

Bergerac's most famous son is Cyrano, the poet with the plume and the nose, and his last word in the play is panache. The real Cyrano never lived here, but the town put up a statue of him anyway. This is the panache bottle: 15.5% alcohol and 16 months in new French and Canadian oak. Quintessence is not a modest name.

Your appellation

Pecharmant, the red-only hill above the town of Bergerac.

The bottle

Chateau Beauportail, Quintessence de Beauportail 2020. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec, 15.5%. Includes a small parcel of rare blue clay.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Roast leg of lamb with garlic, or a big Perigord enchaud, the slow-roasted pork loin.

Sommelier's tip

Decant it, and serve it a little cool, around 60 degrees, so the alcohol stays in the background.

Mercury in an earth sign makes you precise, observant, and quietly devoted to doing things right. You notice every detail, and you want purity, not decoration.

Virgo is the one who knows the local word for things. Pecharmant's secret is tran, a deep layer of iron-rich clay under the gravel, and this is the wine that shows it. Leo's Quintessence is the same estate showing off. This one is the estate doing its job well: 12 months in steel with just a touch of oak.

Your appellation

Pecharmant, on gravel over iron-rich tran clay.

The bottle

Chateau Beauportail 2023. 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 10% Malbec, 14.5%.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Roast chicken with cepes, or a mushroom omelette with Perigord walnuts.

Sommelier's tip

Open the 2023 next to the Quintessence and taste what the oak is doing. Same estate, same hill, two personalities.

Venus in an air sign makes you charming, fair, and allergic to ugliness. You see every side of an argument, which makes you a great host and a terrible decider.

Libra is the scale, and this white balances on it: crisp Sauvignon on one side, a year in French oak with lees stirring on the other. Bergerac spent the Hundred Years' War on the border between the English and the French, and La Jaubertie has been run by an English family, the Rymans, since the 1970s. The diplomat's estate.

Your appellation

Bergerac Blanc, the dry white of the appellation.

The bottle

Chateau de la Jaubertie, Mirabelle 2024. 85% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Semillon, 13%. Ages 5 to 10 years.

Finding it

Imported by Anasazi.

Pair it with

Scallops in beurre blanc, or roast chicken with tarragon.

Sommelier's tip

Give it a big glass and a few years. Barrel-aged Bergerac Blanc is one of the great white bargains in France.

Intense, private, magnetic, and all or nothing. You go deep or you do not go at all, and you trust the things that take time to reveal themselves.

Scorpio rules sex, death, and transformation, and noble rot is all three. The Dordogne's autumn fog shrivels the grapes on the Monbazillac slopes, and pickers go back through the vines in late October and November, right in Scorpio season. This one skips oak entirely. 16 months in cement, 97 grams of sugar, and a gold medal in Paris.

Your appellation

Monbazillac, the golden sweet wine across the river from Bergerac.

The bottle

Chateau Le Fage, Monbazillac No. 1 2024. 95% Semillon, 5% Muscadelle, 12.5%. Gold Medal, Concours General Agricole, Paris 2026.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Foie gras at the start of the meal, the Perigord way, or Roquefort at the end.

Sommelier's tip

Locals pour Monbazillac as an aperitif, not just with dessert. Serve it cold, around 50 degrees.

Jupiter makes you an optimist, an explorer, and a truth-teller. You would rather have a story than a souvenir, and you will try anything once.

La Gloire de Mon Pere is Marcel Pagnol's memoir of hunting in the Provence hills, where his father brings down two rock partridges with one double shot. Sagittarius is the hunter, and Jupiter is the big-hearted father. The wine is a four-grape adventure led by Malbec, organic and fermented without sulfur.

Your appellation

Cotes de Bergerac Rouge, the stricter, riper step up from plain Bergerac.

The bottle

Chateau Tour des Gendres, La Gloire de Mon Pere 2023. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, 14%. Organic.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Roast partridge or pheasant, naturally, or venison with a red wine sauce.

Sommelier's tip

Low extraction and big casks keep it juicy. It drinks well now, and you can chill it slightly in summer.

Saturn gives you ambition, discipline, and a dry sense of humor. You play the long game, and you understand that the best things get better with time.

L'Irreductible means the one who won't give in. Capricorn is the goat that holds its ledge. Only the free-run juice goes in, with nothing from the press, and then it waits 18 months in steel with no oak to hide behind. That is Saturn's kind of discipline.

Your appellation

Bergerac Rouge, the everyday red of the region, done the hard way.

The bottle

Chateau Haut-Fongrive, L'Irreductible 2022. 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 13%.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Cassoulet, beef daube, or a Sunday pot-au-feu.

Sommelier's tip

At 13% and no oak, this is a red for the whole meal. Serve it a little cooler than you think.

Independent, inventive, and a little contrarian. You root for the underdog, distrust anything too popular, and usually arrive at the future before everyone else.

Aquarius breaks the rules on purpose. This white is a perfect three-way split of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, and Savagnin, a Jura grape that isn't on Bergerac's list of approved varieties. So it leaves the appellation behind and goes out as IGP Perigord. The odd one out, and proud of it.

Your appellation

IGP Perigord Blanc, Bergerac country outside the appellation rules.

The bottle

Chateau Tour des Gendres, Cantalouette Blanc 2025. One third each Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, and Savagnin, 14%.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Comte, roast chicken with morels, or Thai green curry.

Sommelier's tip

Savagnin brings a nutty, salty edge. Pour it for someone who thinks they've tasted every white.

Dreamy, empathic, artistic, and romantic. You feel everything, you live half in your imagination, and you are drawn to water and anything a little magical.

Rien de Rien means nothing at all, and Pisces is the sign that dissolves every boundary. Nothing is added to this Merlot, not even sulfites, from a biodynamic vineyard farmed by the Moon calendar. Neptune would drink it barefoot.

Your appellation

IGP Perigord Rouge, Bergerac country outside the appellation rules.

The bottle

Terroir Grinou, "Rien de Rien" Sans Sulfites Ajoutes Rouge 2025. 100% Merlot, 13%. Organic, with a Demeter biodynamic vineyard.

Finding it

Not in the US yet. The estate is looking for an importer.

Pair it with

Charcuterie, a mushroom tart, or grilled salmon.

Sommelier's tip

Serve it lightly chilled and drink it within two years. This is a wine for now.