Château de Tiregand, Pécharmant 2020

Château de Tiregand is the leading producer in Pécharmant, an enclave within the Bergerac appellation where its best red wines are made. Like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, Pécharmant is situated on the northern bank of the Dordogne River, its boundaries delimited in 1936 according to an area of gravel over manganese-rich blue clay, very like that of Pomerol. Part of the old château-fort – much reduced during the Revolution – forms the chai. The elegant, present-day château sits on a bluff nearby, above the road if you have travelled from Bergerac up to Sarlat or La Roque-Gageac. The 43 ha of vineyards are largely on the plateau behind, but some are on the warmer south-facing slopes of the valley. Côme Piat and his family have owned the vineyards since 2023 and have set about conversion to organic, adopting the same regime as his father and brother at Château La Couronneau, 40 minutes away at Saint-Foy La Grande. Côme has set about extending and modernising the chai, but sympathetically as these are some of the prettiest in the region, very Périgordin. The reds, made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a little Côt (Malbec), have a claret-like structure, finesse and ability to age. The Sauvignon Blanc – from just 1.2 ha – has been a staple of the Tanners list for the 40 odd years that we dealt here with the Saint-Exupery family, distant cousins of author-aviator Antoine. After just shy of 200 years, they sold to the Piat family, the château passing into separate hands.