Irouleguy Blanc Hegoxuri - Basqueing in Glory

Irouleguy Blanc Hegoxuri? Bing! One of the great unsung wines of South West France? Bing again!

Sometimes, like Phil Connors hitting the mark with Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, a wine is so sharp, so on the money, that it is positively uncanny.

Hego is a wilful beast, sometimes it smells like damp straw, occasionally there is a faint oxidative whiff or an intrusive, old, woody smell. When the wine sings, however, it hits pitch perfect high notes and bursts smilingly onto the most jaded of palates.

A wildly aromatic blend of 50% Petit Manseng, 40% Gros Manseng, 10% Courbu with pronounced notes of tropical fruits–pineapple, grapefruit and passionfruit–this crunchily pure dry wine has wonderfully balanced acidity and luminous mountain mineral verve on the palate. Displaying brilliant tension, dynamic thrust and crystalline purity it tingles the buds and leads a merry citrus dance over every part of the tongue. There is a brilliant balance between ripeness and liveliness, somewhere between fruit and fruit zest that keeps you guessing and ensures that the wine is thoroughly alive from the first moment it touches the tip of the tongue to the final flourish as it disappears with alacrity down your gullet.