In fact of course, Saint Mont is much older and dates back to the foundation of the Benedictine monastery at Saint Mont in 1050. Phylloxera all but destroyed the vineyard and it was not until the 1950s that replanting begun in earnest. In 1981 Saint Mont became a VDQS and 30 years later a fully fledged Appellation.

Saint Mont is in the South West, covering a scattered vineyard among rolling hills to the south of the River Adour and along one of the routes to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela. On a clear day, one can just see the Pyrenees on the horizon. The terroir is fairly complex with clays, sands and limestone all contributing to slightly different styles of wine.

The vineyard however had to be recreated from scratch as all that was left after phylloxera were a few isolated vines. The process was painfully slow and was very much the work of people like André Dubosc, a keen ampelographer who would eventually become president of the Plaimont group of cooperatives.

Saint Mont wines exist in three colours with rosé being possibly the least interesting. The reds are based on three varieties: tannat, which is the main grape of nearby Madiran and accounts for about 70% of any blend. Then there is cabernet sauvignon and pinenc. These are full bodied, dark, dense wines that are fruity but also quite tannic, broadly similar in style to Madiran but a little softer.

The whites are based on the Gros Manseng grape, the same as in Jurançon but Saint Mont is always a blend of varieties and the other two are petit courbu and arrufiac. The whites are clean tasting, bright and refreshing

Saint Mont covers some 42 villages and everything is made by the excellent coop. Most of the wines are blends, some barrel aged and sold at different price points. One or two single estates are made separately and sold under a Château name. In the past we have listed the wine from Château de Sabazan which lies of sandy soils and makes a wine of real elegance. The 2008 vintage will feature in the January list.

What amazed me however was just how well these wines keep. To celebrate their 30th, Saint Mont put on a brilliant tasting in London for the trade and journalists. There at the heart of the tasting was a vertical tasting of Château de Sabazan, back to the very first vintage ever made which was 1987, and delightful it was too.

Marcel Orford-Williams